Ticketmaster obviously sucks, and their monopolistic business practices deserve a close look by regulators.

But the core of it is that an unregulated ticket market actually supports these prices. Fans keep showing that they're willing to dig deep and outbid each other to attend these events in person. Ticketmaster realizes this, and have set up a business model that extracts accordingly.

I think this is where us Americans get turned around. We tend to believe that it’s fair to charge the full market value for a thing, but we also have a sense that cultural experiences are "meant" to be shared equitably. But until we actually put a value on the latter, we're only ever going to have the former.

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akudha 2 hours ago | parent [-]

Looking at the world cup ticket prices gives me a mini heart attack. I don't know who is responsible for such high prices (maybe a combination of FIFA and Ticketmaster?), but goddamn these prices are insane. It is going to price out most people. Either that, or people are going to get into debt, just to see a couple of matches to see their favorite teams play.

	▲	alphager 18 minutes ago \| parent \| next [-]
		There are very limited seats (a few teens of thousands). Free market logic dictates that the 100000 richest fans get the tickets. If you don't like it, you are not a true believer in a free market. There's a reason social democrat countries heavily subsidize culture.
	▲	loloquwowndueo an hour ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		Stadiums are still going to be full, that’s why it will keep happening. People voting with their wallets goes both ways.