Yankees Tickets: Derek Jeter's Last Home Game Is Twice As Expensive As Mariano Rivera's Farewell

As the New York Yankees brace for future Hall of Fame shortstop Derek Jeter’s final home game at Yankee Stadium Thursday night, ticket prices for the historic occasion have reached record heights. The demand for tickets is so strong that New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman warned the public Monday to beware of scams.

“Unfortunately, major events tend to attract major scammers,” the attorney general said. “As New Yorkers, we are all preparing to give Derek Jeter the warm and heartfelt goodbye he deserves as his Hall of Fame career comes to an end. Consumers who are hoping to honor Jeter in person by attending his final games should take steps to protect themselves from people trying to sell counterfeit tickets and other scammers.”

Given the astronomical asking price and scarcity of remaining tickets, Schneiderman issued a press release full of tips fans can use to avoid being scammed. Would-be attendees are warned to “be wary of ticket prices that are too good to be true” and to “check to see if the venue, sports team, or event has an official, verified source for buying and reselling tickets.”

A ticket to "the Captain's" final home game against the Baltimore Orioles on Sept. 25 costs hundreds of dollars more than a ticket to a Yankee game scheduled even one day before the momentous occasion. A seat in the outfield grandstand for Wednesday night’s Orioles-Yankees game can be purchased for about $44. Of the 1,200 seats still available on StubHub Wednesday morning for Thursday’s game, the cheapest ticket – a seat in the outfield grandstand with a face value of $20 – was listed at $348.50. The most expensive seat costs over $15,000.

The median ticket price for Jeter’s farewell game is currently $601.73, according to statistics obtained by ticket resale site aggregator TiqIQ. By comparison, the average ticket price at the most expensive Yankee game since 2010 – a September 2011 matchup against the Boston Red Sox – was a mere $259.35.

Tickets to Jeter’s last home game are vastly more expensive than those sold ahead of the final appearance of longtime Jeter contemporary Mariano Rivera in 2013. Like Jeter, Rivera is a beloved figure within the New York sports scene, a five-time World Series champion and a surefire future Hall of Fame inductee. Yet the median price of a ticket to Jeter’s final home game is more than twice as expensive – seats in Yankee Stadium for Rivera’s last outing were available at an average of $237.39.

Some Yankee fans have expressed anger that the cost to watch their team’s most beloved player has risen to such heights. “We’ve all been watching him for years, and can’t even afford to go to his final game,” David Lawrence, a 21-year-old fan from Long Island, told the New York Daily News. “I don’t know one person who’s going.”