T20 World Cup 2024: India-Pakistan tickets garner frenzied demand

New York: For those who were uncertain if there would be an audience for cricket in the United States of America, here’s the latest: the highest-priced ticket for the India-Pakistan clash on Sunday is priced at $175,000 with an additional $50,000 in fees to the ticketing agency (resellers SeatGeek), and it has takers. 

That’s a little less than a quarter of a million dollars, close to Rs 2 crore, for a four-hour event, which may or may not live up to the top billing, but the aura continues to grow, and people are desperate to get their hands on some tickets. 

The general tickets for India’s second World Cup fixture sold out almost immediately on the official website during the public ticketing ballot, and after, when the sales went live in February. 

The International Cricket Council announced that they received over 2 million requests for tickets through the ballots.  As it stands, a limited number of seats are still available on the tournament website for the Diamond Club ($10,000), Cabanas ($3,000) and Premium Club Lounge ($2,500). Tickets on Stubhub (another reseller) started at $630 per ticket as of Friday, while tickets on SeatGeek began at $870 each. 

The most expensive general tickets on Stubhub were selling for around $4,500 and for $6,700 SeatGeek.

Reports suggested that the tickets for the India-Pakistan game drew over five times the interest which is being garnered by India’s game against the United States of America on June 12. 

In March, ticket prices for the same match were starting at $1,000, with VIP tickets going for a whopping $40,000 each. The market appeared to have cooled since then, lowering ticket prices overall, before picking up again.

By comparison, the average World Series ticket cost about $1,100 last year, courtside seats for the NBA Finals were going for as much as $24,000 and the average price for a ticket to Super Bowl 58 was about $9,000 on the secondary market.

Cricket, rather the India-Pakistan game, is the most sought-after event America has ever seen, at least in terms of ticket pricing. And that is exactly why the ICC thought it necessary to come to these shores.