If you're hoping to grab standing tickets to see the Toronto Maple Leafs in the NHL playoff, be prepared to shell out about $400 per ticket, at least.
Ticket prices for events are soaring, whether it's for sports or concerts, many fans are reeling from the sticker-shock.
On Wednesday morning, the cheapest available tickets to see the Leafs play in Toronto at the Scotiabank Arena were about $386 for standing above the highest seat level at the arena. A ticket for a seat starts at $500, but the view is obstructed. In the 300 levels, a ticket is going for $600, and closer to the ice all tickets are going for more than $1,000 each, CTV's Your Morning reported.
Concerts have seen huge jumps in price, too, especially for verified resale tickets.
Ken Wong, a business professor at Queen's University, told CTV's Your Morning, fans need to get used to the prices.
"Whatever the market will bear decides the price, the person with the ticket is free to put them on 鈥� their auction site and let them go to the highest bidder," he said.
"Pretty much all" of the blame, Wong said, can be placed on verified resale tickets.
Citing an example of a season-ticket holder, "it's almost like them buying a timeshare,鈥� Wong said. 鈥淲hen they choose to go to a game they go, and when they choose not to they put it up for auction."
When the tickets are high in demand, other sellers will buy them, and then resell them again, for an even higher price, Wong explained. This situation happened when Taylor Swift announced her Eras tour. The incredible demand crashed Ticketmaster's website and has since seen ticket resale prices of up to $38,000.
Wong says artists have no say in the end price of the tickets.
"They (the artist) set the fee that they're going to charge the event for their appearance, and after that, it really depends on whoever is producing the event to decide what the list price of the ticket will be," he said.
To hear the full interview click the video at the top of this article.
