Ticket resale prices sky high after MLB at Rickwood sells out in minutes

It took less than an hour for tickets to the MLB at Rickwood Field: A Tribute to the Negro Leagues game to officially sell out, leaving many Alabama residents empty handed by Monday afternoon.

Several people, my dad and girlfriend included, received an email we have been waiting months to find in our inbox. The subject line: “Your MLB at Rickwood Field Game Ticket Purchase Opportunity Begins NOW.”

Only, that opportunity did not last long. Keep reading to find out more about the ticket buying experience + why we and so many others were left disappointed.

How MLB put the tickets on the market

Last month, MLB announced it would have a lottery for Alabama residents. People could register for a chance to buy tickets and that’s exactly how it was described: a chance.

Any Alabama resident could register for the lottery. The league said it would do a random drawing around May 1 and those selected would be notified around May 3 with tickets going on sale around May 6. However, notification emails seemingly did not go out until tickets went on sale.

It’s unclear how many people were selected in the lottery but it was clearly more than tickets available which was not surprising. The league and the City of Birmingham said 26% of the approximate 8,300 seated tickets at Rickwood Field would be made available to community- or youth-based organizations in Birmingham at no cost.

But even so, those who got the email saying they were selected in the lottery were thrilled to see that email around 10AM Monday. Unfortunately, that was not the end of the story.

After attempting to login and select a section to sit in, the above message would pop up. And again when you’d click on a new section that appeared available.

Sections quickly started to disappear and the website was clearly dealing with overloaded servers. About an hour after opening the email, it became clear we would not be getting any tickets to the MLB game. And we were not alone.

Resale market raises ticket prices

It quickly became clear some people went into the lottery with the purpose of buying and reselling tickets to make a profit. After the tickets became unavailable on the MLB site, I went over to StubHub to check out the resale market and the cheapest ticket I could find after fees was $1,292. (The most expensive pair of tickets at that time was going for more than $20,000!)

Here’s a look at prices after fees for the cheapest tickets across the ticket sites as of Wednesday afternoon:

• StubHub: $867
• TickPick: $1050
• VividSeats: $1086
• Seat Geek: $1152

There are several listings available on each site. A pair of tickets was sold Tuesday on StubHub for just over $2400. Currently, the most expensive ticket across all four sites is listed at $10,653 after fees.

The week at Rickwood Field

While I may not get to be at the MLB game, I will get to go to the minor league game between the Birmingham Barons and the Montgomery Biscuits. That game is being played two days before the MLB game so it sounds like the better game if you ask me. The game is sold out but the resale market is certainly more affordable.

Here’s what you need to know about both games:

Did you win the lottery to get tickets for the MLB at Rickwood Field game? Tell us about your experience by tagging The Bama Buzz on Instagram, X, Facebook + LinkedIn!