Aaron Judge's home run chase driving up secondary market ticket sales
Fans reach for a home run ball hit by New York Yankees' Aaron Judge off Detroit Tigers starting pitcher Beau Brieske on June 4, 2022, at Yankee Stadium. Credit: AP/John Minchillo
Looking to see, and perhaps catch, a record-breaking home run by Aaron Judge this week at Yankee Stadium?
Get in line, and have your wallet ready.
With Judge now one home run away from Roger Maris’ club and American League record of 61, tickets in the Yankee Stadium bleachers are hard to come by on the secondary market, according to StubHub.
The ticket seller said overall sales for bleacher seats for Wednesday more than doubled the total of Tuesday, when Judge tied Babe Ruth's best season. The average price of those seats increased 76% from $39 for Tuesday night to $69 for Wednesday.
The market started heating up even before Judge matched Ruth.
StubHub says per-game sales for bleacher seats went up 30% over the average price before this month, and bleacher tickets for each of the upcoming Yankees-Red Sox games are at least double their per-game sales prior to September.
According to TicketIQ, secondary-market ticket prices already were increasing for the Yankees' homestand in the days leading up to their return.
The average ticket price for remaining Yankees home games entering the week was $243, an increase of 113% since Judge hit home run No. 50 on Aug. 29, according to TicketIQ. Then, the average price was $114. It was $175 before Judge smacked his 58th and 59th homers on Sunday.
Tuesday’s opener against the Pirates had the lowest average price of the homestand at $141. The priciest game entering the week was Saturday’s matchup with the Red Sox with a $400 average price. The cheapest tickets for each game ranged between $17 and $63.
As the left side has been the most common destination for Judge blasts this year, Field Level seats in leftfield saw the largest increase at 281%, but the equivalent seats in rightfield weren't far behind at a 278% increase. Main level seats were up 218% in leftfield and 200% in rightfield, while the bleachers saw a 185% increase.
Ryan Gerbosi is an internet news manager for sports at Newsday.com. He also covers NYCFC and mixed martial arts and believes the designated hitter should be banned from baseball.
