Blue Jays fans are paying the price after first World Series birth in 32 Years

The Toronto Blue Jays secured their ticket to the World Series Monday night following a grit-and-grind seven game showdown with the Seattle Mariners. The series was hard-fought by both sides, with Toronto taking the edge in a matchup that simply went to the team that wanted it more. 

Toronto fans celebrated deep into Tuesday morning after their team secured their spot to their first Fall Classic in 32 years. Blue Jays fever is taking over the city following George Springer’s dramatic three-run shot, with victory being especially sweet for longtime fans who have endured years of mediocrity and anticlimactic season finishes to finally reach baseball’s biggest stage against the Dodgers.

Blue Jays Fans Faced with World Series Sticker Shock

On Tuesday morning, Torontonians flocked to ticket sites to secure their spot at the World Series. What they found, instead, was a king's ransom: the cheapest seats at the Rogers Centre were going for thousands of dollars almost immediately after sales began.

Scalpers had obviously beaten fans to the punch, using automatic bots to immediately scoop up and resell all available tickets. Blue Jays supporters were quick to hop on social media to express their outrage, with some users blaming Premier Doug Ford’s repeal of a consumer protection policy enacted by the previous provincial government to prevent online scalpers inflating the market (Ford later contradicted himself with this statement.)

With limited alternatives, diehard Blue Jays supporters are now faced with a daunting secondary market, where platforms like Ticketmaster maintain a chokehold on available resell tickets.

Critics complain Ticketmaster is complicit in scalpers driving up costs, as the company profits more when tickets are sold for higher prices on their platform. When scalpers use bots to purchase and resell these tickets, a new market emerges with no room left for those who expect to pay the original marked price.

Though this means little to Ticketmaster, who have made billions off this setup, it is an insulting industry trend for fans worldwide. Games that once sought to bring all walks of life together in Toronto may as well be luxury experiences reserved for those who can afford resale tickets today.

One fan on Reddit even reminisced about a time where his ticket to the 1993 World Series ticket at the Rogers Centre cost just $32. Yes, gone are the days of cheap tickets to ballgames at the dome, where faint “Let’s Go, Blue Jays” chants would echo across the ballpark on gameday.

Without proper regulation in the current system, this price gouging will only continue. Governments should take the initiative to help preserve moments that are important to the identity of their cities. The question remains: who will finally step up to the plate and give baseball back to the fans?