2018 the Ticketing Industry

In 2018 the ticketing industry finally killed the ‘sold-out’ show

By Jesse Lawrence

Among the many myths that were laid low in 2018, perhaps none was as welcome to throngs of live-event fans as the fantasy of the sold-out show. Indeed, as the ticket market has moved to adopt new technology, the newfound transparency has had one prime victim: The Sellout.


The highest-profile debunking of the sellout in sports for 2018 came from Washington, DC.

Originally reported by The Washington Post, the Washington Redskins officially ended their decade-long season-ticket waitlist this June. Once claimed to be 200,000 fans deep, the reality of Redskins demand hadn’t been as rosy since the glory days of Riggins and Theismann. In 2018, the Redskins have been selling single-game tickets like never before — even using the secondary market as a favorable point of comparison.

Other high-profile examples of this shift include the Golden State Warriors,  who, despite selling out 100 percent of their regular-season games, had hundreds of tickets available for Game 1 of the NBA finals in the minutes before tip-off.