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Supply and demand in action:
Derek Jeter [2]‘s announcement Wednesday that he will retire after the upcoming season turned out to be a boon for fans and brokers of the New York Yankees [3]‘ rivals, the Boston Red Sox [4].
In an ironic twist, the Yankees’ season-ending series in Boston (Sept. 26-28) will now be the shortstop’s final regular-season games.
Within minutes of the announcement, which was posted to Jeter’s Facebook page, ticket prices soared on the web.
“This last Jeter game is now a tougher ticket than the Opening Day ring ceremony,” Jim Holzman, CEO and president of Boston-based Ace Ticket, said. “Now that’s a story.”
Ticket aggregator TiqIQ said that the cheapest seat for the finale at around 2 p.m. ET, before Jeter’s announcement was posted, was $26. An hour later, the site didn’t have anything for less than $200.
As of 5:30 p.m., the average ticket price for Jeter’s last game was $1,153.01, up 278.2 percent from 2 p.m.
“People bought what they could buy,” said Chris Matcovich, TiqIQ’s vice president for data. “And then brokers started pulling their tickets so as not to sell their seats too cheaply.”
Matcovich said the company, which was founded in 2009, had never seen an immediate reaction in the sports-ticketing market like this.
Prices embody information.