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March 28, 2023

Event Tickets Now the Fastest Growing Collectible Category

Beckett Collectibles recently announced plans to expand its menu of services to include the grading and authentication of physical tickets.

Timing of the announcement may sound off. Rights owners and venues across the sports and entertainment landscape have transitioned to, or are in the midst of transitioning to, exclusively digital ticketing systems.

But tickets have become a hot collector’s item in recent years. 

Nat Turner (CEO, Collectors) said it is now the “fastest growing category inside of PSA as far as submissions [go].” The number of tickets submitted to the company rose 173% between 2020 and 2021, and another 164% YoY last year.

Professional Sports Authenticator (or PSA) is the largest 3

party trading card authentication and grading company. It is owned by Collectors.

PSA became the first company to start authenticating tickets when it began offering the service to clients in the early 2000s.

Most of the early submissions came from baseball set and player collectors seeking uniformity, or fans looking to protect and label their personal mementos. Part of the appeal to authenticating a ticket is the ability to customize the slab with a specific message or milestone noting its importance.

However, tickets remained an underappreciated collectible category for much of the next two decades–which explains why PSA was the only company doing it  until Beckett’s recent move into the space.

Submissions spiked during COVID though and have remained elevated since.

The excess capital in the market and influx of speculators looking to make a quick buck during the pandemic were factors in the category gaining momentum. As were the rising values across the collectible industry.

Long-time card collectors and investors began taking notice of how rare vintage tickets were too. “When they started realizing there are 50,000 [graded] Joe Montana rookie cards compared to just three or four known [full] debut tickets, probably his most valuable ticket, that opened their eyes to [the idea] tickets are the way to go,” Steve Lee (director of tickets, Beckett) said.

Population reports specifying exactly how many tickets have been authenticated by a given grading company for a specific event serve as the source of that information.

Increased awareness regarding the scarcity of tickets is driving prices up. And record sales have subsequently drawn more attention and new buyers to the category.

“A few debut tickets started selling at big numbers, that previously hadn’t been offered for sale,” Turner said. “The Jordan ticket is an example of that, the Jackie Robinson debut ticket is another example. Those really catapulted [consciousness amongst a mainstream audience].”

Submissions to PSA and Beckett will eventually slow with rights owners eliminating physical tickets. But with six-figure sales bringing newfound attention to the category, Lee doesn’t envision that happening anytime soon.

“There’s plenty of raw tickets out there sitting in basements or attics that people are [now] looking for,” he said.

It is highly likely there are sports fans out there unknowingly sitting on paper gold mines.

Tickets are “different than cards,” Lee said. “People have been collecting cards for so long that when they see a card, they automatically think it is worth something. They see an old box of tickets and think it’s junk.”

Mike Cole

was one of those people. The former Northwestern student found an unused ticket to Michael Jordan’s ’84 debut in a folder nearly four decades after the game took place. Believed to be one-of-a-kind, the authenticated collectible sold at auction last February for $468,000 (note: the purchase price includes a 20% buyer’s premium).

The most ever paid for a ticket stub to a sporting event is $600,000. A private buyer paid that much for a pass to the inaugural 1934 Masters Tournament last May. The collectible is signed by 17 of the 61 players who participated.

The potential for additional tickets to be unearthed makes investing in the category riskier than trading cards.

However, the belief is the older the event, the safer the investment should be.

The category also lacks the liquidity of trading cards.

But as sports Darren Rovell (the sports betting reporter who has amassed one of the world's largest ticketing collections) said, “That also means that when incredible pieces come to light —where there are only one or two that have emerged in the last couple of years— the range of what someone is willing to pay might be greater. If you don’t buy it then, you might never see it again!”

The ongoing transition to digital ticketing has sparked a cottage industry–commemorative game tickets. For a nominal fee, companies like Stub-e will send

with their seat locations and the game’s final score.

Commemorative tickets are not going to sell on the secondary market for as much as one that was used to enter the venue. However, it has become so difficult to get an actual ticket from the box office that souvenir editions issued by rights owners should hold some value.

Lee noted that commemorative Super Bowl tickets have been selling for between $400 and $500.

Rights owners failing to provide fans attending games with the option to purchase commemorative tickets are leaving both revenue and fan engagement opportunities on the table.

“USAA gave fans attending the Army-Navy game this year a hard ticket with a code that when swiped gave the holder the ability to pull video and other elements they experienced at the game,” long-time PR consultant and Columbia University professor Joe Favorito said. “It was really cutting edge and thoughtful. Why can’t [other sports properties] do the same?”

They can–and should.