Echoing what Live Nation president Joe Berchtold told CNBC last week, recent TicketManager conversations with teams and venues all point to the release of pent-up demand for live sports, music and other entertainment events.
The most interesting takeaways from discussions of current ticket sales efforts include:
Sales for amphitheater shows this summer are extremely high.
Most teams and venues expect the first half of 2022 to have an extremely high volume of shows, perhaps the most ever seen in a six-month time frame.
VIP and Platinum seats account for a higher percentage of sales than in previous years.
Billie Eilish tour dates are selling out quickly, with many venue managers believing she could be filling 50,000-seat stadiums instead of 15,000-to-20,000-seat arenas. Some liken the demand to what they witnessed with Taylor Swift pre-pandemic.
NFL ticket sales are up compared to both 2018 and 2019.
Season ticket sales for both Los Angeles NFL teams at SoFi Stadium are extremely strong, with single-game tickets also selling well for both the Rams and Chargers.
The Dallas Cowboys report ticket demand for the Las Vegas Raiders’ visit to AT&T Stadium is significantly higher than for previous Cowboys/Raiders matchups in Texas.
The Cowboys also noted that the record-setting May 8 Canelo Alvarez-Billy Joe Saunders super middleweight title fight at AT&T Stadium was one of the fastest selling tickets in the venue’s history.