Oct. 29, 2015 By Michael Florio
Fans who wish to buy a World Series ticket online may have to hit the lotto to do so.
The average ticket to a World Series game at Citi Field this weekend costs over $1,600.
As a means to stop price gouging, State Senator Jose Peralta is co-sponsoring a bill that would limit the resale prices of tickets to twenty percent above their face value.
“As the Fall Classic heads to Citi Field tomorrow, there are thousands of Mets fans, the regulars who go to the games throughout the season, that are turned away from the opportunity to buy tickets to watch their beloved Amazins,” Peralta said.
These “skyrocketing resale ticket prices,” as Peralta called it, prevent the working class and the fans that support the team all year from being able to purchase tickets. These fans have to settle for watching the game on television, he said.
“Scalpers and people using automated ticket purchasing software are buying tickets that would have ended up in the hands of true Mets fans,” he added.
Peralta, whose district includes Citi Field, added that this happens to all New York teams, not just the Mets. He emphasized that some scalpers resold tickets during Pope Francis’ visit to New York City.
In 2007, the State Legislature lifted restrictions on the ticket resale market in favor of creating an open marketplace. The changes in the law have resulted in unintended consequences that have failed to drive the resale prices of tickets downward, according to Peralta.
Peralta is teaming up with Manhattan’s State Senator Daniel Squadron, who introduced the legislation.
