Getty Image / Andrew Redington
The Ryder Cup is one of the premier sporting events for spectators in the world. The biennial matchup between the best golfers from the United States and Europe always features raucous and passionate crowds.
With the event returning stateside to Bethpage Black Golf Course on Long Island next year, anticipation was high for many, with expectations for a hostile, pro-USA crowd. But, initial ticket prices were much higher than many anticipated, and now the PGA of America is being accused of selling directly to secondary marketplaces like SeatGeek and StubHub.
Last month, general admission tickets priced at $750 for each day of the three-day competition were announced. That is a hefty price tag, to say the least. That’s a price that would price out a lot of working and middle class people from attending the event. Still, given how in-demand tickets are for the Ryder Cup and the amount of wealth in the New York metro area, tickets were still expected to sell out at a price point that was nearly four times higher times than the price point. People were not happy about that price point, to say the least.
On Wednesday, the PGA of America, who along with the R&A in Europe runs the event, announced that all tickets at the $750 price point were sold out and that tickets could be purchased via secondary market ticket partner SeatGeek. They claim that they received over 500,000 ticket requests. That number seems realistic, to be honest.
But, many fans are claiming online that the PGA of America sold some of the available tickets directly to SeatGeek so that SeatGeek could sell them at huge markups. As of the evening of Wednesday, November 13, prices for Friday were around $1,200, Saturday around $1400, and Sunday around $1700 at minimum. That’s a big jump from the original price of $750.
issue isn’t high prices. The issue is that they’ve clearly lied. They made 5/6 groups of people “lucky” enough to be in one of the sale windows.. yet tickets didn’t last till after sale window 1. They clearly sold tickets directly to SeatGeek rather than available via their sale
— Michael (@MilnerM95) November 13, 2024
They all went right to the secondary market. Three of us “won” and when we got our emails the links each went straight to Seatgeek for resale tickets. $1200 + fees. PGA in bed with the legal scalpers
— Dirt (@DirtyDan97) November 14, 2024
Did the PGA of America actually sell a bunch of the tickets to SeatGeek? There’s no evidence of that. But, fans are clearly frustrated. Ryder Cup tickets were under $200 for the event at Whistling Straits in 2021, the last time the event was played in the USA. Many think this is just a big money grab by PGA of America.