Future of ticket collecting
 

I can't remember the last time I walked into a baseball game or any sporting event with an actual ticket, as opposed to a piece of paper printed off from my computer. The next time someone throws a perfect game, how many actual ticket stubs will exist? Obviously can't authenticated a printed piece of paper. Will people covet actual ticket stubs even more, or does the widespread disappearance of actual printed tickets make people less interested in collecting them. I could see it going either way.

I think they stay about the same. Baseball cards are way different than they used to be too.

I have a theory. Ticket buyers get tickets. Then they sell them on stub hub and the buyer gets an electronic ticket. So they go to the game and use their e-ticket. But the original buyer still has the original unused ticket. Am I correct about that?

No. Season ticket holders are also all electrified. It’s all on phone apps now.. getting away from hard copies all together.

Much as I hate manufactured collectibles, I think the future is probably "Commemorative" tickets printed much after the event. Technology exists to print tickets on demand (for a fee) at the event.

Some teams will print tickets for season ticket holders, The San Jose Sharks wanted $100 for each seat this season so I passed. For the NHL All-Star game they sent STH a "Commemorative" ticket for their seats, which was interesting in that I didn't actually get to sit in my own seat for the AS game.

Yes, The LA Kings were the last to Print tickets, This year they use AXS and everything was electronic. Dodgers have been for years too. I was at Kershaws No-hitter and I shredded the paper ticket. My world series tickets were also paper the last 2 years unlike my WS tickets I display from 1974 and 1988.

It sucks. PERIOD

Got it. Then to answer the op the future of ticket collectors is relegated to the past. It’s now a dead collectible since they aren’t made.
A few years ago my employee went to the Jeter 3000 Hit game. He had a paper print out to get in. I know tickets exist for that but he didn’t get one and he was very upset about it. Tickets will be something we can tell our grandkids about.

Great question. Tickets are, unfortunately, going the way of _________ (fill in the blank) They will become obsolete. I can see a future time when events will manufacture scarcity by offering a limited number of paper tickets for an event, in order to drum up desire and these will sell for a premium.

In answering your question, a hobby friend once said to me "There is an ass for every seat." I don't know if it will thrive, but I do believe it will exist. It may just be fewer asses to fill those seats.

Sadly, in the modern digital age, literally every tactile thing is going the way of....
Signatures, handwritten letters, and endless paper ephemera have long been saved, cherished and collected from revered individuals of the past, as a tangible record of history and culture as well as their existence. What now? Will it get to the point where all that is left is to show someone a computer screen, and state "so and so once typed this into a keyboard"??

The future is depressing and bleak.

In regards to rare and vintage tickets i've noticed some high profile tickets in mid to low grade PSA selling for less in the past few years. For awhile there in 2013-2014 tickets seemed to get more attention. I havent heard much since.

I may be in the minority, but I personally believe that truly rare vintage tickets to historic games will continue to be sought out by the dedicated collector.
I will also go out on a limb and state that I believe that valuation will continue to go up if supply is limited, just like anything else that's collectible.

Many of you may know that I am not a fan of PSA and slabbing tickets.
PSA seems to slab virtually anything for $$.
Case in point, they authenticate season passes and call them "tickets" to historic games.

A more concerning question that I believe is direct to the point is will the younger generation care about collectibles in the same way that we do?

I don't believe so, because times have changed with electronic gadgets like smartphones and videogames, for what it's worth.

Yes, it's pretty depressing.

On a related note, I wonder how the future generations will view art? Will paintings and sculptures go by the wayside as well? Graffiti is now considered an art form, so I guess Rembrandt, Van Gogh and even Kreindler (some day) will be turning in their graves! :eek:

There will always be a sustainable market for valuable collectibles. Even within the sports card trading community generations go through phases as they mature into collecting.

Kids still collect, Panini, Donruss, UD, Topps are fighting over licensing rights. They havent gone bankrupt yet.

Today's craze for modern basketball inserts will gravitate to those collectors going after vintage. It only gets deeper from there and they all eventually end up on Net54 by the time they are in their 40's and older owning the RARE stuff...:D

I've lived through the stages of this thing called collecting in the last 20 years. I also started with 80's baseball and basketball cards when I was a kid. Now i'm hooked on T206 portraits.

As long as there are good paying jobs and sustainable economics our vintage stuff will stay desirable.
It's a gateway to Net54 i'm telling you..

Well, as George Harrison sang many years ago, all things must pass. But hard to predict when when and how. A lot has changed since Shakespeare's time, yet kids still read his books in college and people still find going to his plays tremendously rewarding. Ditto fine art and much of what Sotherbys sells. Yeah, some wacky modern art demands great prices, but all these centuries later people still buy Picassos and Rembrandts. I think there will be a market for what we collect for many many years, though clearly things will fall in and out of favor. Maybe someday the mania we see today for Jackie Robinson turns into hysteria for Ken Griffey cards. Or people are going nuts for Judge cards. Impossible to predict.

I always think how Elvis Presley was the biggest celebrity on the planet when I was a teen. Today my kids would be hard pressed to name 2 of his songs. Do people go to Graceland anymore? I don't know. I doubt there are lines down the block. Yet, people still collect Beatles stuff big time. Impossible to predict.

I remember buying a lot of tickets at a chantilly show that came from lesser but still significant games...like the retiring of Wilt's jersey at Philly and a few others. The guy had been to all the games himself. I had a friend of mine come by and say,"What are you buying?" and I told him pieces of this guy's life at fifty cents a throw.

Sorta like music.....no more albums, no more 8tracks. Everything digital. But something cool happened. My kids want albums again, and love vinyl. Vintage seems to last?

I don’t know if anyone has noticed but Topps has been venturing into this field for a few years with Topps Bunt digital cards. A couple of years ago these were selling for really nice money. I remember seeing Mike Trout digital autograph cards that were selling for more than real autograph cards. I’m not sure how the demand has been for these lately but I personally have no interest when I can buy an actual card.

I have been wondering about this myself, as I collect tickets from Kris Bryant homerun games. Some teams just don't have tickets, making it impossible pretty much to collect all of them, but I think that most season ticket holders still get actual tickets, don't they? I've had Pacers season tickets for a decade and have all the ticket books but use the digital app to actually attend. I bet a lot of people do the same, so maybe the tickets just become much more scarce.

My research shows that 21 of 30 MLB teams had hard copy season tickets in 2018. As recently as 2013, all 30 teams had them.

tickets
 

Boston Bruins had hard tickets this year.

Mark,
I can't imagine that art will ever go out of style. Beauty is inspirational...

My Red Sox season tickets didn't even have a paper ticket option this year - it is all electronic. Though I did buy some extra tickets for a few games, and those are paper tickets.

Boston Celtics do still offer paper tickets for the season ticket accounts, though they are offering promos to cut over to electronic. I do still enjoy my paper tickets for sure though!

I can't say that any sports teams do the same, but I had an interesting ticket experience last night.
I got a ticket online to see the Experience Hendrix show, and of course got an email to print out. But my wife selected will call rather than printing out a ticket.
Get to the box office, totally different entrance. Hand over my printout expecting them to simply verify it and send me in. They verified, then handed me a paper ticket, which was scanned before entry by the guy standing maybe 5 ft away.

I'll have to try it the next time we buy Red Sox tickets.

It never goes out of style, but the quality definitely changes/decreases.

I know you're right, Scott...

Was just having a bad day and suspecting gloom and doom.

Earlier in the week, we hosted a party including about a dozen "Millenials"... All college educated (mostly expensive private schools). The conversation somehow turned to Bob Hope entertaining the troops during Viet Nam, and they all had a blank look on their faces. Then I asked who in the room knew who Bob Hope was, and it was just an uncomfortable silence. Finally one of the girls said I KNOW... He operates the airport in Palm Springs!

Rather than correcting her (pointlessly) I replied.... That's right! Just like John Wayne runs the Orange County Airport. :rolleyes:

She was very pleased with herself, so why fight it?

As a long time ticket collector of attended games,
 

I was pleased when my son and I were able to use his real cardboard tickets to the Yankee game Wednesday. He had four with different players depicted. I chose the Aaron Judge. I score every game I have ever attended (I'm 88 years old) and try to keep the ticket stub. Of course, in recent years, I have had to do with printed tickets on paper which is especially disappointing at playoff and world series games.

I recently won at the recent REA auction a season ticket booklet from the Philadelphia 1896 season with several unused tickets. Of interest to me because Sam Thompson was on the 1896 Philadelphia roster, but also as an example of 19th century ticket styles which like scorebooks have evolved dramatically over the years.

When I started out in 1938 (I still have the scorebook) I could buy a Briggs Stadium scorecard for 5 cents which takes up little space. Last Wednesday, a scorebook at Yankee Stadium cost ten dollars and takes up about 1/4 inch on my shelf. The Yankee Yearbook is now twenty dollars, even heavier, and I try to avoid them, but my six year old granddaughter begged me with tears in her eyes to "bring one home for me."

No, not entirely true, we hold NY Rangers seasons and they send the hard tickets every year... You can also use the electronic version but you always get the hard tickets. Same with Mets and Yankees and Knicks, Nets, Giants and Jets...

Great to see you are still on the boards-you are an asset to the community!

Frank

Yep, this is what I do. I typically choose will call for sporting events to get physical tickets.

Supply is and will be definitely lower than in the past for real tickets. Most fans walking thru the gates now I notice either have a paper read out or use a scan on their phone etc. Real tickets for significant games may be in low supply.

While many of the teams are getting out of the physical season ticket business there is still, and probably will always be, the box office ticket. If you know a milestone is imminent you can still buy tickets at the box office. The problem lies with events that are random, like no hitters and such. There will probably still be people who went to the game at the last minute and bought a hard ticket at the box office, however this will mean that demand will be much higher than supply so expect to pay!

Keith is one of the nicest, most knowledgeable people in the hobby. I am proud to call him a friend.

The latest issue of Memories and Dreams the bi-monthly magazine of the Baseball Hall of Fame has an article on this very subject. The author, Bill Francis believes the current lack of tickets will only strengthen the hobby as people look to the past for memories?

The article gives a history of teams switching to computer then mobile devises. It mentions that the Nationals stopped printing tickets for season ticket holders in 2013.

This not an area of collecting that I know anything about but the short article in well done. It may be on-line at the BBHOF?

Exactly...

I only collect the 1971 Bucs home and away tickets. Finding any that I dont have is highly unusual and cost prohibitive. I have seen stubs to uneventful 71 Pirate games go for $75 to $100. I just can't justify that price no matter how badly I want a stub. 71 Pirate games in San Diego and Montreal seem to be very rare. Due to that I have extended myself many times and walked away empty handed. There are a couple of other collectors on this site who have collecting interests that occasionally cause us to cross paths in pursuit of a stub. However, I believe they too shy away from such prices. Nonetheless, although my focus is narrow supply and demand have driven the prices up. I cannot believe this will not be the case for collectors who are chasing milestone tickets of individual players and famous teams. I think ticket collectors are pretty safe. I believe the scarcity of stubs will only serve to pique the interest of future collecters.

I recall attending Robin Yount's 3000th hit game, and buying a half dozen or so extra tickets from the box office after he got the hit. I've managed to save just about all of my stubs from games I've attended except for my earliest childhood games, unfortunately. This year I attended my first sporting event without a paper ticket, a Tampa Bay Lightning hockey game in March. The only way to get an actual stub is buying a ticket, day of game, from the arena. I believe STH's have the option of having tickets printed. I don't like electronic phone tickets. Tomorrow I start my season of sitting in the Wrigley bleachers, forced to using electronic phone tickets for the first time in baseball. In the event of something historic, I will not have an official ticket stub and that stinks.

...also when I asked to buy a hockey program at Amelie Arena in Tampa, I was told they no longer print them, all the player information is on their team app....:confused::rolleyes::(

I went to the Astros Yankees game last night and they gave me this paperstock ticket to show the usher as I entered and they scanned the phone virtual ticket. I crumpled it up and put it in my pocket... Who knows 100 years from now. It has Altuve on it and he homered in the game.

At least she knew about the airport!
A comedian who's been dead for 15 years and not relevant since before we were born, i understand not knowing about.

Carolina Panthers season ticket holders still get em, and they tend to have a nice picture collage spread across them.

Times passes. I love when huge Seinfeld fans quote obscure lines from the show like everyone knows precisely what episode they are talking about and exactly why it's funny. And they profess amazement when someone doesn't get the reference. Seinfeld has been off the air twenty years. When I was a kid shows that went off the years 20 years ago were some ancient history I couldn't care less about.

serenity now....insanity later!

People should at least be somewhat cognizant of the past... good and bad. Especially considering that without the things that have preceded contemporary culture and society, we wouldn't have what we have today.


"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."

- George Santayana

I'm a Mets season ticket holder. I got my first smartphone six months ago, and this is the first year I'd be using the current technology to attend games.

I was looking forward to getting a paper "receipt," because from a collecting standpoint those would be the only true tickets from milestone games. Season tickets are printed at the same time before the season starts, and even box office style tickets can be printed ahead of time. And print-at-home tickets... well, I can print 'em to PDF instead of to paper. I still have the PDF files of all my print-at-home tickets from 2017 to date, so, for example, I can still print out hardcopies of the print-at-home ticket from the game where I became Thumbs Down Guy in case I want to sell them as something to sign.

Anyway, getting back to reality, when I went to my first Mets game this year I was disappointed to find that they weren't giving paper "receipts."

Collecting aside, what happens if there's a problem with your phone, and an issue regarding your seat, or perhaps club access, arises?

Here is an example of this. What am I missing with this this ticket?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1971-Unused...p2047675.l2557

Maybe about 130 bucks? ;)

Yah, no idea. I saw that too, had to go back and research the game and I got nothing.

Do you recognize the winners id?

Astros guy? Pirates guy? Re-seller? Find that one hard to believe as they arn't doing any better then what that just went for.

Unless I'm missing it too.

Unless someone wanted Rennie Stennet's first career stolen base ticket, I'm with you Mike, I have no idea why it went for so much.

That said it is a nice looking full ticket, with the family day/stub reference but still that doesn't make it a $135.00 item.

Don't know Mike. Good luck in your quest tho.

It has to be a 1971 Pirates issue. The seller has three similar Astro tickets that are for games against the Dodgers, Reds, and Cubs. These three clubs are each very popular with collectors. Yet all three can be had for BIN $9.99 each. I know of two other board members whose ticket collecting efforts cause us to cross paths. One reached out to me about this item to enquire if I was bidding. He said he was not bidding. The other collector chases Stargell HR stubs. This can only mean there is a fourth individual out there willing to spend significantly more than I for pedestrian stubs.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1971-Unused...MAAOSwZSJcwOF4

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1971-Unused...IAAOSwx2BcwN-Q

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1971-Housto...UAAOSwrANcwNcE

Hi Mike,
I would have to guess that it is someone who collects Roberto Clemente hits.
At one time I knew a collector that was chasing this theme, but I have not heard from him in 10-15 years.

The only way that a ticket gets to this price though is obvious.
Two or more motivated collectors placing high snipe bids and one ends up holding the bag at the end of the auction.
There is no way that this ticket can be worth anywhere near this amount.

Mike were you the runner up? Because if not, then its not one, but 2 more collectors out there.

Hi Paul, I was not the under bidder. I actually backed out at $50 which I thought was a high bid. So yes you would be correct, there are two people crazier than I am...