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Buying Season Tickets for Dummies: Is Breaking Even Realistic?
Posted on 10/23/25 at 1:34 pm
Posted on 10/23/25 at 1:34 pm
I’m considering buying 2 season tickets for the Braves 2026 season. Signed up for the waitlist last year and now the time has come up to purchase. Have never been a season ticket holder before, and was wondering if people here who have or are more familiar with this sort of thing could help provide me with more insight. On average I probably attend 10 games per year and pay $100 for a ticket. So I’m trying to work this out to see if it’s worth the investment.
After inputting all the different factors I could imagine on ChatGPT, here’s a table illustrating a simplified break even analysis. I realize there could be more to it than what I’ve accounted for, such as variability in resale prices depending on the game, so I’m hoping y’all could help me out with whatever I’m overlooking.
What stands out most to me is the assumption both tickets would be resold for every game I don’t attend, which seems unlikely. My average gross resale price is probably a bit skewed then, but I also don’t know if I’d be able to make it to 20 games (possibly only 10-15), so maybe that rebalances it somewhat. There’s apparently restrictions on how many games you can resell your tickets so I’d likely try to stay within those boundaries to avoid any penalties.
If anyone here can help me fine tune this break even analysis further, as well as provide personal experience with how it’s worked out for them, I would greatly appreciate it. And I figure this topic is more suitable for the Money Talk vs More Sports Board.
After inputting all the different factors I could imagine on ChatGPT, here’s a table illustrating a simplified break even analysis. I realize there could be more to it than what I’ve accounted for, such as variability in resale prices depending on the game, so I’m hoping y’all could help me out with whatever I’m overlooking.
What stands out most to me is the assumption both tickets would be resold for every game I don’t attend, which seems unlikely. My average gross resale price is probably a bit skewed then, but I also don’t know if I’d be able to make it to 20 games (possibly only 10-15), so maybe that rebalances it somewhat. There’s apparently restrictions on how many games you can resell your tickets so I’d likely try to stay within those boundaries to avoid any penalties.
If anyone here can help me fine tune this break even analysis further, as well as provide personal experience with how it’s worked out for them, I would greatly appreciate it. And I figure this topic is more suitable for the Money Talk vs More Sports Board.
11
Posted on 10/23/25 at 1:48 pm to NotoriousFSU
I think you're going about it the right way trying to math it out, but in my experience season tickets are a lot better as an "investment" when its at a venue that often hosts big concerts or other events that you know will sell out but that you can get earlybird tickets for.
Posted on 10/23/25 at 7:13 pm to NotoriousFSU
Be aware if you sell what the club deems too many they will confiscate your tickets….
Posted on 10/23/25 at 7:31 pm to NotoriousFSU
Imagine how much of a pain it will be to sell that many tickets, too
Posted on 10/23/25 at 8:21 pm to TheOcean
That’s probably my number one reason against going through with it. Feels like it could be a huge pain in the arse since I’m not very familiar with how all that works. I’ve asked friends about their experience as season ticket holders for the NFL/MLS, but managing 8/17 vs 81 home games in a season seems quite different. Would require constant effort on my end to reach the break even margin. Idk if it’s worth it considering the risk involved where I could possibly fall short by the same amount I would have spent on the tickets to the 10 games I typically attend each year.
Posted on 10/23/25 at 9:08 pm to NotoriousFSU
Why the frick are you putting this on a credit card and getting hit with interest payments?
Posted on 10/23/25 at 10:50 pm to TigerTatorTots
Fair question. I used financing the purchase in these calculations just as a means to see what the potential maximum cost would be. One year was the max time period I wanted to set for the break even analysis, but in reality I would pay off the balance much more quickly. Didn’t want to make any underestimations. I’m also very frugal when it comes to cash expended on anything outside of investments since there’s more productive assets that money could be allocated towards in the meantime. Would your preference for this sort of thing be to use a credit card with interest payments only as a last resort?
Posted on 10/23/25 at 11:13 pm to NotoriousFSU
Do Braves games typically sell out?
If they do not, you may find yourself selling tickets below FMV
Are their additional incentives to being a season ticket holder? Concession discounts, special fan experiences, access to pre sale for other events, playoff ticket access etc.
I don’t think I would buy season tickets to attend 1/4th of season without some extra benefits.
Have you thought about splitting the tickets with other people?
If they do not, you may find yourself selling tickets below FMV
Are their additional incentives to being a season ticket holder? Concession discounts, special fan experiences, access to pre sale for other events, playoff ticket access etc.
I don’t think I would buy season tickets to attend 1/4th of season without some extra benefits.
Have you thought about splitting the tickets with other people?
Posted on 10/24/25 at 5:37 am to NotoriousFSU
You probably get good prices on Dodgers, Yankees, Cubs, White Sox , Cardinals.
Your seats for the Marlins/Rockies/Etc are not going to fetch much.
Just pay as you go.
With football, if you have Steelers/Packers you could pay for most of your whole package by selling those seats.
Your seats for the Marlins/Rockies/Etc are not going to fetch much.
Just pay as you go.
With football, if you have Steelers/Packers you could pay for most of your whole package by selling those seats.
Posted on 10/24/25 at 9:17 am to TJG210
quote:
Be aware if you sell what the club deems too many they will confiscate your tickets….
This. Colleges are cracking down too
Posted on 10/24/25 at 9:35 am to NotoriousFSU
So my advice is don't even consider doing this if you are racking up CC interest doing so.
quote:If you know of a guaranteed 20% annual return then every human on the planet would be banging on your door to tell them
I’m also very frugal when it comes to cash expended on anything outside of investments since there’s more productive assets that money could be allocated towards in the meantime.
This post was edited on 10/24/25 at 9:37 am
Posted on 10/24/25 at 9:54 am to NotoriousFSU
quote:
So I’m trying to work this out to see if it’s worth the investment.
If you have to put them on a CC to buy them, then you shouldn't do it.
The problem with season tickets is the only way to "get your money back" is to sell all the best games. The only real benefit to season tickets is to have access to playoff tickets. In theory if your team makes the world series or LCS you could sell tickets that could pay for most of or all of your season tickets.
If you really want season tickets to go to games, just buy a quarter season package.
Posted on 10/24/25 at 1:29 pm to barry
Appreciate all the feedback y’all. Definitely helps to have some added perspective. Seems like it’s just not worth the hassle. Will just stick to ticket buying for individual games like how I’ve always done it.
Posted on 10/24/25 at 1:46 pm to NotoriousFSU
quote:
Appreciate all the feedback y’all. Definitely helps to have some added perspective. Seems like it’s just not worth the hassle. Will just stick to ticket buying for individual games like how I’ve always done it.
I’m sure you’ve already looked but a lot of teams will sell partial season or game pack tickets, allowing you to get guaranteed FV seats to a chunk of games. If flipping some to pay for the package is in your sights, may be a more manageable arrangement.
Posted on 10/24/25 at 3:25 pm to mmmmmbeeer
This just seems like a horrible idea. I mean you can always try it for a year and bail in year 2 if it doesn’t work out like you think it will.
Posted on 10/24/25 at 3:57 pm to NotoriousFSU
I’ve heard the NFL is a headache because of all the throwaway preseason tickets and the NBA because there’s so many games. MLB is the worst of both worlds…twice as many games as the NBA plus Wednesday afternoons every week.
In the early aughts I would’ve rolled the dice for potential access to World Series tickets, but not today.
In the early aughts I would’ve rolled the dice for potential access to World Series tickets, but not today.
Posted on 10/26/25 at 10:47 am to NotoriousFSU
I see you accounted for 15% in resale fees but if you're selling on an exchange such as seat geek you should know that the buyer is paying fees too. So whatever you think you're listing the price at, it will actually be higher. Meaning you have to discount your tickets even further for them to sell.
Posted on 10/26/25 at 12:17 pm to NotoriousFSU
Last year, my kid at LSU paid for the student season ticket package thing. Made all that money back reselling a ticket to another student for just the Alabama game.
Buddy of mine has done that for years with his LSU season tickets. Sell either the Bama or Florida game. Probably much easier to do with CFB than NFL/MLB.
Buddy of mine has done that for years with his LSU season tickets. Sell either the Bama or Florida game. Probably much easier to do with CFB than NFL/MLB.
Posted on 10/26/25 at 8:23 pm to lsuconnman
quote:
In the early aughts I would’ve rolled the dice for potential access to World Series tickets, but not today.
I used to do that with hockey tickets for a team with a sold out season. Got tired of them getting knocked out in the 1st and second rounds, so started selling those playoff tickets. They basically covered the season, and I’d use them for the conference finals and finals.
Posted on 10/27/25 at 3:38 pm to NotoriousFSU
Scalping as an investment 
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