Blue Jays the Home Team Playing in Philadelphia: How Are Ticket Prices Affected?

Tonight, the Toronto Blue Jays will begin a three-game series at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia against the Phillies. However, this is no ordinary home series for the Phillies.

Instead, this series was supposed to be played in Toronto but had to be moved to Philly due to security reasons that arose from the G20 Summit being held in Toronto this weekend.

As a result, the game will be played as if the Blue Jays are the home team; they will take batting practice first, they will pitch in the top of the inning and hit in the bottom half, and they will wear their home uniforms. Obviously though, the fans, which are big huge part of having “home field advantage,” are going to be overwhelmingly Phillies fans.

The Blue Jays considered moving to a more neutral field but decided playing in Philly would be the easiest solution. According to Blue Jays President and CEO Paul Beeston, the series was expected to draw around 90,000 fans for the three-game set before it was moved. The Blue Jays usually draw an average of 15,208 fans, so this series was supposed to be a big draw.

We at SeatGeek are always interested in if, and how, these abnormalities affect ticket prices. Apparently, the Phillies and Blue Jays will be sharing revenue for this game, with the goal for both teams to come out revenue neutral.

We were curious to see if ticket prices for the series would be higher than the season average at home for the Phillies due to its uniqueness and how ticket prices for the series would compare to the season average in Toronto since this is technically a home game for Toronto.

• There is a slight, but insignificant, increase in average transaction price for this series over the Phillies' season average, $61.73 to $59.62.
• The one game that is significantly higher than the Phillies' season average is tonight’s game, selling at an average of $73.39. This is most likely due to the fact that Roy Halladay is pitching and facing his old team.
• The average transaction price for this series is significantly less than the Blue Jays' average price at home.

The rarity of this kind of series seems to have had little effect on ticket prices, as the prices are right in line with the season average at home for the Phillies. This is definitely an unusual series, and it will be interesting to watch how it goes. I wonder how many Blue Jays fans are coming down from Toronto to see their team play “at home.”

Be sure to follow us on Twitter @SeatGeekMLB and email [e-mail] with any questions or comments.

This article is also featured on  SeatGeek Sports Blog