The cheapest seat for Game 1 of the World Series is now more expensive than the cheapest seat at the Super Bowl. World Series tickets for Friday's opener in Milwaukee had a get-in price of $2,809 on Monday, up 165% in a week, according to TicketData figures reported by Front Office Sports. Lower-level seats start above $4,000.

The matchup is the Milwaukee Brewers against the Tampa Bay Rays. For Milwaukee, it is the first World Series since 1982, a 44-year wait. And it is happening in baseball's smallest media market, which makes the price tag even more striking.

Why the prices are this high

Three forces are pushing the price up at the same time.

  • Scarcity. The Brewers host Game 1 and Game 2, and Games 6 and 7 only if the series goes that far. One ballpark, a handful of games, and a fan base that has waited 44 years. Supply is tiny; demand is not.

  • Pent-up loyalty. This is not a fair-weather crowd. The Brewers have topped 2.3 million home attendance in every non-pandemic season since 2006 and reached the playoffs eight times in nine seasons. Those fans finally get the big one.

  • The resale market. Most of these prices are set on resale platforms, where sellers price in real time. As inventory shrinks, every remaining seat gets more expensive, sometimes within hours.