Prices for the March 18-19 games are at obscene levels, with about 40 days to go. Michael Elizondo details his struggles with how absurd as we prepare to provide live coverage of the event.
We are less than six weeks from baseball’s return, with the Tokyo Series starting on March 18 at 3 a.m. PT. It is worth repeating that True Blue LA will provide live coverage of the regular season games from Tokyo.
By hook or by crook, Adric and I will be there in some form.
My mother and I will arrive in Tokyo a week earlier, and I will be in Kyoto on the days of the exhibition games against the Hanshin Tigers and the Yomiuri Giants. I had planned otherwise, but as you will see, I gave up on this part of this endeavor.
I have been trying to get tickets to these games for months, as the media route was foreclosed on me early on. It has been an ordeal, dear reader. We have covered ticket prices at True Blue LA, most recently during the World Series. I never thought we would reach a phase where we would consider $1,000/ticket prices the blissful low end for something, but market forces are weird.
For the past six months, I have dealt with an event where $1,000/ticket seems quaint.
Fox 11 Los Angeles ran a quick report on ticket prices on January 28th, pointing out that tickets on StubHub ranged from $2,000 to $19,000 per ticket. Note that the price is in dollars, not Japanese yen. However, this blurb does not tell the whole story. Before getting to “the how,” let’s discuss “the what” regarding ticket prices for the six available games.
Does anyone have any spare organs?
One would be forgiven for seeking to sell a little blood or hawk a spare organ or two to afford resale prices for tickets to the Tokyo Series. Most people forget that the series involves the main draw of the Dodgers‘ two regular-season “away” games and four exhibition games between the Dodgers, Cubs, Y.Giants, and H.Tigers.
While the Cubs sport their own Japanese imports in Seiya Suzuki and Shōta “The Throwing Philosopher” Imanaga, the following price ranges should tell you that the Japanese clearly have eyes just for the Dodgers.
For anyone curious, the list price for Cubs exhibition games ranges from ¥ 3000 (about $19) to ¥ 60,000 (about $386) per ticket. The list price for Dodger exhibition games ranges from ¥ 4000 (about $26) to ¥ 100,000 (about $644) per ticket.
Even on the side of the globe, the Dodger tax is real.
Not to be understated, but the following prices on the secondary market are just a bit higher.
For humor, we shall present them from cheapest to most expensive in dollars. See if you can see when prices go from “expensive” to “Oh God, I have to turn the phone sideways to figure out the result.”
- 6th place: Cubs vs. H.Tigers, Saturday matinee, March 15 — $118 to $1,291/ticket
- 5th place: Cubs vs. Y.Giants, Sunday evening, March 16 — $150 to $5,901/ticket
- 4th place: Dodgers vs. H.Tigers, Sunday matinee, March 16 — $434 to $4,073/ticket
- 3rd place: Dodgers vs. Y.Giants, Saturday evening, March 15 — $578 to $3,733/ticket
- 2nd place: Dodgers vs. Cubs, Game 2, March 19 — $1,590 to $20,231/ticket
- Winner: Dodgers vs. Cubs, Opening Day, March 18 — $2,168 to $20,780/ticket
I suddenly have the strangest, most unlikely sense of empathy for Taylor Swift fans.
In a move that can only be called an insult to injury, the only secondary market available for these games is StubHub, with its excessive gross fees and all. It’s like getting an extra ticket that no one gets to use! Want to use SeatGeek (fewer fees) or TickPick (no fees) or buy directly from the Dodgers or Cubs? You’re out of luck.
There was a brief window during which tickets were offered on the open market to U.S.-based patrons and an even briefer window during which Dodger season ticket holders had the chance to get tickets, but we will get to those occurrences in a moment as you likely are wondering how tickets are finding their way to the market.
“I’ve got a golden ticket!”
The fully justified criticism of Grandpa Joe from Roald Dahl’s famous story will have to wait. As someone who has been actively covering (and honestly participating) in this story, I have included a rough timeline of when tickets were made available.
Tickets have been available on StubHub for months, and there was the vain hope that prices would drop as more tickets became available. In the interim, one has had multiple bites at the proverbial apple if one lived in Japan. For those of us stateside, it has been a challenge, as you can see.
On January 9 through 15, Yomiuri Giants season ticket holders could apply for a lottery of tickets that occurred on January 18th, with tickets being made available on March 1.
On January 10 through 14, the Japanese konbini (convenience store) chain Lawson’s had three lottery applications from January 10 to 14, January 14 to 20, and January 23 to February 3. The respective lotteries were on January 16, 22, and February 6.
Yomiuri Shimbun, a newspaper boasting of having the world’s largest circulation, had two lottery application periods. One was for subscribers on February 7, and one sale period is for the general Japanese public on February 16. Oddly enough, the Yomikyo was adapted and featured as the primary workplace for the MAX Series Tokyo Vice. The general public sale requires a free account and an ePlus membership.
Japanese ticket site ePlus held lotteries for members on February 7 (for both regular and wheelchair seats) and will hold a sale for the general public on February 16th. To sign up and use ePlus, you need a Japanese address and phone number.
Japanese ticket site Pia will hold a sale for the general Japanese public on February 16th. To register, you need a Japanese phone number.
The overseas sales I referred to earlier occurred on January 27th. The sale was originally scheduled for 7 p.m. Pacific, but it happened at noon. The Dodger season ticket holder sale also happened that same day. I reacted with the customary grace that I am known for.
I try not to be jealous as I lead a somewhat charmed life, but it was hard. Sometimes, one must make sacrifices for the greater good.
As you can see, navigating the various windows and the soul-crushing costs has been an ordeal, but there are still forty days to go. Maybe a miracle will occur, and I will provide coverage from the Sunday afternoon matinee. At this point, my priority is getting to opening day and enjoying Game 2 with my mother. Sometimes, memories are worth the high cost of living.