Flight of vanity? India-Pakistan T20 World Cup ticket listed on resale market for $175,400

New York:  Is there something magical about Seat 30 in Row 20 of Section 252 at the T20 World Cup stadium in East Meadow?

Or is it a reseller’s flight of vanity?

The ticket for that seat for Sunday’s India-Pakistan match has been listed for $175,400 on the resale market, Stubhub, where tickets for entertainment and sports events can be legally sold with markups.

It doesn’t mean that the ticket will be sold at that price – it’s just the price that the seller wants.

Compounding the mystery of that high price, tickets in adjacent rows in Section 252, were listed for far less: $693 in Row 21 and $801 in Row 19.

A ticket for a seat in that section, without disclosing the seat or row number is also listed on another resale site, Viagogo, for that same price, perhaps by the same person.

The clamour for the hard-to-get tickets for the clash of neighbours, which many fans consider the high point of the month-long tournament spread over venues across the US and the Caribbean has spawned profiteering on the resale markets.

As of Friday night, a few tickets were still available on the official International Cricket Council(ICC) site without markups and were priced between $1,500 in the Boundary Club section and $10,000 in the Diamond Club section.

Between them were Premium Club Lounge section tickets for $2,750 for the Corner Clubs section and $3,000 for the Cabanas section.

There are stark differences in pricing and demand between matches and they can be seen with Saturday’s Netherlands-South Africa match at the same venue: Tickets were available for between $120 for Premium and $700 for Premium Club sections on the ICC site.

Tickets for the upcoming India-US match on Wednesday were listed at $300 for Premium, $1,000 for Premium Club Lounge, Cabanas for $1,350, and Diamond Club for $7,500.

ICC began selling tickets through what it called a “public ballot”, a process in which fans applied for tickets andsome were randomly selected to get them,

ICC said that the demand for the India-Pakistan match tickets at the 34,000-capacity stadium exceeded supply by 200 times.

Some of those who got tickets at the ballot, or the open online sales later in February and in April are trying to make a hefty quick buck on the resale markets.

Stubhub, Viagogo and such sites act as middlemen charging a fee to the seller and buyer based on the value of the ticket and guaranteeing the transaction.

But despite the hype of the $175,400 demand for a ticket, the asking prices on the secondary markets mostly ranged between $700 and $1,000, still a big markup.

Many of these were selling and indicating the closed transactions a slash appeared through the listing.

The second costliest listing on Stubhub was for $18,000 in Section 101.

It was followed by one for $13, 496 in the Diamond section, where the lister said it included privileges like free VIP parking, and complimentary “unlimited food and drinks (beer, wine and liquor)”.

Viagogo had a $6,700 listing for a Diamond Club seat. Most tickets on it had an asking price between the $500s and low $700s.

On Vividseats, the costliest listing was $8,013 and the cheapest $693.

(Arul Louis can be contacted at arul.l@ians.in and followed at @arulouis).

–IANS