If walking the hallowed grounds of Augusta National has only manifested itself in your dreams and you happen to have a chunk of disposable income sitting around… I come bearing good news. Your dream is now more accessible than ever thanks to our latest global panic, Tiger’s back issue Coronavirus.
That’s right. While the Coronavirus has likely annihilated your 401k and postponed your retirement an additional three years, it’s also significantly eased secondary market prices for Masters tickets.
For the countless thousands who routinely get their lottery rejection email every summer, the secondary market is one of very few options to attend the Masters. Given the vastly lopsided supply and demand discrepancies, this has led to astronomical prices for the privilege to visit golf’s version of Disney World. Whether the Tiger hysteria has dramatically calmed, or Coronavirus fears continue to surge, prices have dropped well below year-over-year averages. That’s the good news.
The bad news? Tickets are still remarkably expensive for the average patron to justify without dipping into the “client entertainment” slush fund. As of this afternoon (March 9, 2020), the “get in” price for a Monday practice round is only $377 on SeatGeek, excluding fees. THREE HUNDRED SEVENTY-SEVEN DOLLARS. To put that in context, the cheapest available 2019 Monday badge within a roughly equivalent timetable to tournament week was $546 on StubHub, according to GOLF.com – This reflects a very generous 31% discount compared to 2019. The markdowns get even bigger as we look at additional historical data reflecting the lowest cost option for Thursday through Sunday badges, via SeatGeek.
While these prices are nothing to sneeze at (wink, wink), they are demonstrably more affordable compared to the obscene pricing we’ve witnessed in recent years. On March 7, 2019, secondary market reseller TickPick saw the average resale price of a Thursday badge jump to an astounding $4,697. You can buy one right now on TickPick, including fees, for only $1,596. That comes out to an almost unthinkable $3,101 YoY difference.
In 2019, GOLF also reported that a four-day “Competition Badge” could be purchased on StubHub for $6,490. There were only 55 total tickets of this variety available. As of right now, the inventory for sale is more than double the prior year (113 total) and the lowest price is $4,749. Despite having one of the lower-priced markdowns on a percentage basis, a 27% reduction is worth noting when you consider Tiger Woods is returning as the defending Champion.
Lastly, the average resale price from 2018 & 19 (incl. fees) for a Thursday badge was well above the $3K mark. You can now walk through the gates on Thursday April 9th for roughly half the cost.
If these “cheap” prices aren’t remotely close to your budget, fear not, you’re in good company. Despite the relatively tepid market in 2020, you’ll still need to pay a very large ransom to enjoy a delightful peach ice cream sandwich or be revolted by the grotesque pimento cheese. Keep fighting the good fight with the rest of us commoners in the ticket lottery, your day is bound to come. If you’d prefer to take advantage of this relatively rare opportunity, you’ll find plenty of tickets available on StubHub here. Feel free to snag one for me as a gift, I’ll bring the face masks and Purell.