After a tough loss for the Chicago Cubs on Friday night, World Series ticket prices have dropped.
Just hours before the Cleveland Indians' second shutout at Wrigley Field, Game 5 had been crowned the most expensive sporting event in history. Tickets averaged $6,548 -- topping even the 2015 Super Bowl, according to ticket search engine TicketIQ. But with Sunday's Game 5 no longer a series-clinching opportunity for the Cubs, prices have sunk 18 percent to $5,373. It's now the second-most expensive game behind the Super Bowl.
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"You see emotion really driving prices," TicketIQ CEO Jesse Lawrence explains. "As people get excited, prices go up. As they get discouraged, prices go down."
Even with the Game 5 price decline, the games at Wrigley are still the most expensive that TicketIQ has seen in its seven years tracking the World Series. And there's a silver lining for sellers -- Games 6 and 7 have actually gotten a price boost.
The average ticket for Game 6 now costs $3,448 while Game 7 is up to $4,314. That's because Cubs fans hope those games will be more promising, Lawrence says. Prices could move even higher depending on how Game 4 plays out Saturday night.
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"We'll definitely see games 6 and 7 -- if those are the potential clinchers -- move up [in price]," Lawrence adds.
Though the cost of experiencing baseball history might still seem astronomical, ticket sale prices end up being less than asking numbers. For example, sellers are asking for over $5,000 for Game 5, but tickets actually sell for less than $3,000.
