Blue Jays Fans Broil Ticketmaster Over World Series Ticket Prices

Photo Credit: Hugo Coulbouée

Ticketmaster is facing consumer outrage over the price of World Series tickets, as Ontario Premier Doug Ford accused the company of “gouging the people.” Ford says his government is reviewing possible legislative action to reinstate a cap on ticket resale prices.

Resale listing for Toronto Blue Jays home games against the Los Angeles Dodgers surged into thousands of dollars per seat. Some lower-bowl seats for Game 7 matchups at Rogers Centre topped $10,000 CAD ($7.1K USD) on Ticketmaster’s own resale site.

Speaking with the press, Ford said, “My personal opinion…they’re gouging the people. When you have one player in the market that controls the tickets, that’s not right for the people, so we are actually reviewing that right now.”

Ford previously opted against enacting proposed price cap legislation in 2019 after a Toronto Star investigation revealed Ticketmaster was actively colluding with professional brokers and didn’t care if they had multiple accounts to secure tickets. Instead, Ticketmaster agreed to pay $4.5 million for ‘misleading prices’ rather than enact price caps.

The Rogers Centre will host Games 1 and 2 of the World Series this weekend, with Games 6 and 7 also slated should they be necessary. For fans priced out of attending the games at the ballpark, the City of Toronto announced free public viewing parties at Nathan Phillips Square for home games. Ticket prices for these home games range from $700 to $2,300 CAD.

While Ford places the blame squarely in Ticketmaster’s lap, it’s worth noting that the Toronto Blue Jays have long engaged in dynamic pricing and secondary market distribution. The Blue Jays partnered directly with ticket resale platform StubHub from 2017 to 2023, but switched to SeatGeek for the 2024 season. Season ticket holders can use the Blue Jays’ official Account Manager portal to sell tickets they won’t use on SeatGeek as verified resale listings.

Meanwhile, Ticketmaster has announced it is shutting down its controversial TradeDesk platform, which made it possible for professional brokers to snatch up tranches of tickets and market them for resale. That news follows a letter to Congress in which Ticketmaster defended itself, stating it does more than any other platform to combat ticket scalping.