Ticket Trivia
How much do we actually know about a usual everyday thing such as a ticket?
For one thing, ticketing is an integral part of our everyday lives and with tickets, we pay for a service we need at the given time. As simple as that. This notion of paying for a piece of paper gets us places, it enables us to use public transport, to see our favourite movies, to go for a swim to the local pool, to listen to our favourite band and nowadays even to donate for our passionate cause. Could there be more it? In order to expand our talk and comment more on the gravity of something as the ticket (paper or digital one), we can say that a ticket is also a way to track the turnout and have insights when it comes to the interest that got us into buying it in the first place.
As we unravel this seemingly unimportant topic, we come to a conclusion that we do not know who came up with the idea of selling tickets; however, we can guess that they did not have the slightest inclination it could become this important in our everyday lives.
Setting aside what we do not know, here are some fun facts we found:
The first ticket sold for Disney World
The first ticket to Disney World was sold in 1955 and the cost was $1. It was actually a great marketing move by the Disney brothers as the first ticket was purchased by Walt Disney’s older brother Roy O. Disney.
How much would a ticket to Titanic cost now?
Back in 1912, a first class passenger had to set aside £30 for the maiden voyage. If that were you in 2016, it would cost you £2,653. And,£76,929 (£870 back at the day) could get you a parlour suite and a private promenade deck. Perks to the first class also included gymnasium, swimming pool, Turkish baths, a squash court, and a first class kennel for the beloved pets.
At the same time, the second class passengers were not so lucky, and their ticket was £13 (£1,123 today); the third class passengers paid approximately £7 (£777 today) while the tickets for children cost £3 (£259 today).
The most unused concert tickets bought by an individual
This record was set by Michael Dehn who in 1986 bought 79,652 tickets for cancelled Led Zeppelin concerts. The concerts were supposed to take place at the Chicago Stadium Illinois from 10th to 12th November in 1980. The above mentioned Mr. Dehn, decided to have them as a souvenir (quite unusual one) paying $9,000 to own them. The tickets are now being sold as collector items at prices ranging from $40 to $80 each.
“Avatar (2009)” worldwide and “Gone With the Wind” in the USA ticket record
By the end of 2010, the movie “Avatar” has reached the figure of $2,7 billion. Roughly calculated, this is around 270,000,000 tickets sold worldwide. On a closely related matter, the number of tickets sold in the US cinemas for “Gone With the Wind” is inviolable with 225,7 million visits.
The most tickets sold for a stand-up comedy tour
This is probably one of the most, if not the most, popular stand-up comedy tours ever. Jeff Dunham ventriloquist and stand-up comedian sold 1,981,720 tickets for his "Spark of Insanity" tour. The tour lasted from 13th September 2007 to 21st August 2010 at 386 venues worldwide.
More than 70mil tickets sold for UK sports events in 2015
Do you have any idea how much passion British people have for sports? It comes as obvious when we look at the figure of 70 million tickets sold for sports events last year.
- Football games - 43,4mil
- Rugby – 7,5mil
- Cricket matches – 2,3mil.
Most expensive sporting event tickets
People enjoy watching sports games as they are an affordable way of spending time and bonding with friends. On the other hand, you would agree that this is not always the case. Some games are all but low cost and watching them would mean giving a serious thought to your budget.
Here are some of the most expensive tickets!
- Floyd Mayweather Vs Canelo Alvarez
For a complete indulgence in a boxing match (ringside seats), you have to depart from a whopping $30,940. On the secondary market, tickets are reaching the dizzying $70,000. Of course, you could buy a ticket for mere $1,500, it is just that the distance will make you confuse the fighters for ants colliding in the ring.
Another interesting fact is that Mayweather Vs Canelo matches earned almost $42 million from tickets only.
- NBA Finals 2010
Lakers vs Celtics game has reached the single ticket price of almost $57,950. The seats near the field hit the ticket price of $115,000.
- FIFA World Cup Final 2014
For this great tournament held in Brazil, the ticket price was going from $990 to $3,350 depending on, again, the vicinity to the field.
- Super Bowl
Unquestionably, one of the most important sport events in the USA is Super Bowl. Ticket price reached almost $1,210. What may sound as even more interesting is that some people purchased their tickets from scalpers for, believe it or not, $31,600.
World’s first speeding ticket
There is no correlation between the speeding ticket and our today’s topic, but we are only mentioning this kind of a ticket for the lexicology and trivia purposes. The first ever speeding ticket was issued in 1904 to Harry Mayers in Dayton, Ohio. Although, there are claims that there were speeding tickets issued before this date, this one is the first issued paper ticket for speeding. The speed limit at the time was 8mph, and the unfortunate Mr. Mayers was driving 12mph.
A ticket to the outer space
In the end, the most luring, intriguing and covetable ticket may be the one that can get you into space. If dreaming of going out in the orbit was ever your thing, then a $250,000 ticket is your chance. Virgin Galactic is there to make this dream come true; all you need to do is apply.