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You log into Ticketmaster…and you see that it is sold out just a few short minutes after the tickets went on sale. Don’t be discouraged! Tickets for concerts, sporting events, Broadway shows, and other major events are never actually sold out.

Take advantage of the following and you may be able to buy tickets for a sold out event, even after the screen reads – “Tickets no longer available.”

• Single tickets are often left unsold. Even if you can’t get a pair, you can often buy two single tickets that are fairly close, or even piggyback (like seat 1 in Row 17 and seat 1 in Row 18.)
• Large blocks of tickets are held back for friends, family, local radio stations, marketing contests, VIPs, etc. These tickets are released usually 2-3 days prior to the event.
• Handicap seating is held back for every event, and can only be purchased by someone with a qualifying disability (needing a wheelchair, etc.) These seats are released a couple of hours before the event, all the way up to the event actual start time. (Keep in mind you cannot buy directly from Ticketmaster all the way up to event time – so 2 hours prior to the event, the only place tickets may be available is at the box office located on site.)
• Buyers who violate published ticket limits usually have their ticket orders cancelled and released back into the pool. This happens during routine maintenance the day of the ticket sale or Monday for weekend “on sales.”
• If you are just a few minutes into the “on sale” for an event, and you get the “Tickets no longer available” message, you should keep trying. Many inexperienced or indecisive buyers may have beaten you into the system, but had their tickets released back if they failed to complete the purchase in 2 minutes.

Good luck and please continue to send me questions.  Feel free to subscribe to my RSS feed or weekly newsletter.  Both will provide links to my articles and information about tickets going on sale in the near future.  Thanks!

Yes, the NFL does sell tickets to real fans.  But the odds are definitely against you.

NFL Super Bowl Tickets are distributed in the following manner:

• 500 pairs (1000 tickets) are awarded through a random lottery which allows winners to buy 2 tickets at face value for end zone upper level seats.
• 30% of the tickets for the game are given to each team that is playing in the Super Bowl for friends, family, team executives, team sponsors, and a limited number of season ticket holders. (60% total between the 2 teams)
• 10% are given to the host team (the team whose facility is where the game is played) for friends, family, team executives, team sponsors, a limited number of season ticket holders, and local officials and politicians.
• 1% are split amongst the team not in the Super Bowl for friends, family, team executives, and team sponsors.
• 25% are distributed by the NFL to the large corporate sponsors, television networks, VIPS, and Host Committee members, etc.

Each NFL team has their own way of awarding tickets to the Season Ticket Holders if their team goes to the Super Bowl.  Most use either entries that are weighted by the number of seats you have, or a combination of seat quantity and years you have been a season ticket holder. 

It is too late to get into the lottery for the NFL this year, but here are the general rules:

• Submit an entry between February 1 and before June 1 of the year before the Super Bowl.
• The entry should include your name and address, phone numbers, and email address.
• If selected you will receive notice in October or November of the year before the game.
• The entry must be sent via certified mail, and submitting more than one entry per household will disqualify them all.
• Winners receive the opportunity to purchase two tickets at face value – usually about $400-$600 per seat.
• Super Bowl Random Drawing, PO BOX 49140, Strongsville, OH 44149-0140
   

The cheapest seats for the Super Bowl usually sell for $5000 - $10,000 per pair on the secondary market.  NFL fans should enter every year (and have all their friends and family enter every year) in hopes of scoring tickets to the most popular event in the universe.  Non NFL fans should do the same and sell them to pay for whatever your heart desires! 

Good luck and please continue to send me your questions.  Feel free to subscribe to my RSS feed or weekly newsletter.  Both will provide links to my articles and information about tickets going on sale in the near future.  Thanks!

Tickets have a very interesting, and fairly predictable life cycle.  There is no simple answer to the best time to buy tickets.  The key is to remember that Tickets are perishable (become worthless at some point) and are emotional purchases. For events likely to sell out, the best time to buy tickets is when they go on sale.  If possible, purchase tickets directly from Ticketmaster, the team, or venue at face value. 

When an event sells out, the next few hours and days usually lead to ticket prices soaring.  Obviously there is a demand, and no supply, and emotional fans pay whatever it takes to secure a ticket.  This is the worst time to buy a ticket.  Resist the urge to pay a premium to get that seat for your favorite artist.

Once the price hits a peak, prices steadily decline until they eventually become worthless.  The prices decline every day as the event nears, and usually returns to face value or lower by the day of the event.  In the rare cases when the prices are still high as the event nears, you can still count on the ticket being worth less after the event starts, and being worth zero when the event ends.  Your best bet on a sold out event is to buy on event day, or even a few minutes after the event starts. 

In rare cases tickets prices rise as the event gets closer, but it is 1 in a 1000 type occurrence.

There are a few different rules for events that are unlikely to sell out.  If tickets are unlikely to sell out you should definitely buy on the secondary market.  That’s because many small time brokers and amateur sellers on eBay will have bought them in hopes of profiting, and will eventually be looking for buyers to take them at below face value so they don’t lose all their investment.  If you want to research sell outs for a particular event, you can easily do so by going to Ticketmaster and seeing if tickets are available for the same event in another city, even though those tickets have been on sale for a while.

Good luck and please continue to send me questions.  Feel free to subscribe to my RSS feed or weekly newsletter.  Both will provide links to my articles and information about tickets going on sale in the near future.  Thanks!