If you thought you had a robust ticket pricing strategy, and you’re on Broadway, it might be time revisit your thinking. After the repeal a few months back on price caps for ticket resellers, one primary reseller has set up shop on the Great White Way (according to this article in the New York Times).
Broadway and other downtown venues will likely grumble at the loss of cash to the market (if a ticket is worth $500, they figure, why don’t they get the $500). But the growing marketplace for StubHub also absorbs market risk for those tickets that don’t sell at cost. Says the article:
While most attention on the secondary market is centered on the hard-to-find tickets at nosebleed prices, the store could possibly open up the discount market as a place for brokers trying to dump tickets at the last minute. A spokeswoman for eBay, which owns StubHub, said that 40 percent of tickets on eBay are sold at or below face value.
So, who eats the loss when a reseller buys a ticket from a theater and then has to dump it at a discount? Technically, the reseller. But the original venue also loses control of its house and its prices, in the bargain.
Broadway and nonprofit theater in New York are clearly bit players here, as the bulk of reselling involves sports and bigger commercial entertainment. But it will be interesting to watch how the new rules and the new storefronts change the game for everyone.
