Sports stars outplay Lady Gaga in “Rush” for summer tix

Jun 4, 2010 16:05 EDT
Carole King | Forbes.com | James Taylor | Lady GaGa | Live Nation | Rush | Ticketmaster
gagaAhhh, summer is coming in North America, and that means summer festivals, concerts and numerous chances for music fans to take advantage of good weather and splurge their hard-earned dollars on watching their favorite singing stars. So who comes out on top as the most popular to see, as judged by ticket scalpers? Red hot Lady Gaga? Cool teen Justin Bieber?
Well, the pop stars’ egos might be bruised to learn that, not only is the Lady low on the list, Bieber’s not even there. Rather, sports stars are the tops, according to a Forbes.com survey of the highest-selling tickets offered by scalpers on website stubhub.com. Read the Forbes list here.
At No. 1 is game five of the NBA Finals pitting the Boston Celtics against the Los Angeles Lakers with front-row seats selling for $7,700. It is followed by the men’s semifinal round of the U.S. Open tennis tournament ($4,286), and next comes a seat near the dugout of Major League Baseball’s All Star game ($3,000).
Lady Gaga landed at No. 10 for a front row seat at her Monster Ball tour’s show in Los Angeles. She wasn’t the only music star on the list, but those making it were not young singers idolized byKobe teen fans. In keeping with a relatively recent trend in concerts, the really expensive re-sale tickets go to older fans and “classic” bands. That fact held fast for Canadian band Rush, who have been on the comeback trail recently and even saw a documentary about them play at the Tribeca Film Festival. They landed at No. 9 with a Row A seat for an August show Las Vegas ($1,667), and at No. 5 is a third row Madison Square Garden seat for a James Taylor/Carole King show ($2,001)
One can only imagine Live Nation and Ticketmaster rubbing their hands with glee. After their merger, they are focusing how to catch some of the scalper market. But how much is too