Best time to buy tickets?

Revert

Registered User
Jun 20, 2016
39
1
Orange County, CA
Looking for any people that go to games and preferably know the best time to buy the tickets and best platforms to buy the tickets on? Obviously each time is different, but do you usually find the best time to buy immediately, 10 games before, or the day of the game you want to go to? I live in Anaheim and try to go see the Pens play the Ducks every year and get decent seats, 3 of the 4 times previously I waited until the last hour and found a good ticket, but the last time one didn’t pop up so it got me thinking. Lemme know your thoughts!
 

SETHROLLINS

Registered User
Mar 2, 2011
1,563
338
So many factors play a role in the secondary market. Is there a giveaway? How is the team performing? Is the star player playing for the away team (mcdavid, crosby, ovechkin)? Is the game on a weekday or weekend? Cold weather cities is there bad weather in the forecast for that night? So many factors and I only listed a few. There is no exact science to predicting the market.
 

Taluss

Registered User
Jul 28, 2018
8,250
5,902
NYC
I usually use SeatGeek or vivid seats. But it's always worth checking around different sites imo.
(Use code SENSTALK for $20 off your First purchase on SeatGeek btw) S/O to @senstalk (twitter) for that
But I usually have no prob waiting until the final day or 2 to buy tickets and they end up being the same if not cheaper. The tickets I got to today's game appear to be cheaper now than when I did a week ago
 

tarheelhockey

Offside Review Specialist
Feb 12, 2010
84,977
137,333
Bojangles Parking Lot
But I usually have no prob waiting until the final day or 2 to buy tickets and they end up being the same if not cheaper. The tickets I got to today's game appear to be cheaper now than when I did a week ago

Yep. Basically there are two ways this can go...

1) Tickets are sold out in the cheaper sections... scalpers are competing to price their tickets UP as much as possible while still selling their stock... as their stock runs out, prices rise... the longer you wait, the more you pay.

2) Tickets are available in the cheaper sections... scalpers are competing to price their tickets DOWN as much as possible while still turning a profit... as their stock goes unsold, prices drop... the longer you wait, the less you pay.

It gets weird if the cheaper tickets are sold out but expensive sections are still available. But as common sense would dictate, you generally are going to end up comparing prices in different levels to find the best deal. That usually means cheaper seats are likely to be overpriced, but only up to a certain point.
 
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Kale Hulls

Registered User
May 15, 2013
3,620
2,452
If it’s a sellout: as early as possible

If it’s not a sellout: as late as possible
This, if you can hold out until 4-5 hours before a game you can usually get a great deal from somebody desperately trying to recoup some money.
 

Metroid

Слава Україні!!
Sep 6, 2006
5,116
5,367
Hellmouth
I'm going to Disney in February but will catch a game in Tampa. I already purchased tickets for that game. (Leafs vs Tampa) I just used Ticketmaster.
I like to get em ahead of time and not worry.
 

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