Taylor Swift, Deion Sanders, Lionel Messi make StubHub history
StubHub dubbed Swift's tour the 'biggest' in its history
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Another year of live event experiences is winding down and, according to StubHub, it was quite a remarkable one.
Superstar singer Taylor Swift, University of Colorado head football coach Deion Sanders and Inter Miami forward Lionel Messi, among others, all had noteworthy impacts this year, according to StubHub.
The ticket marketplace also reported Wednesday on other trends it saw in live events for 2023, spanning women’s sports, men’s sports and concerts.
Taylor Swift
StubHub dubbed the "Eras Tour" put on by Swift as the "biggest in StubHub history" on top of the ticket marketplace, placing her No. 1 among "in-demand global touring artists."
Her tour also ranked highly among both the most popular events in the U.S. for people from other countries and the most popular ones outside the U.S. for Americans, according to StubHub’s report.
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Her tour drew StubHub ticket buyers from over 110 countries in 2023, with the U.S. dates pulling in people from 100, the company said.
Swift, Time magazine's "Person of the Year" for 2023, has made major bucks over the course of her "Eras Tour," which has also provided a lift to the economy of the cities it visits, according to reports.
Taylor Swift gave her entire staff generous bonuses ahead of the American-leg portion of her Eras Tour coming to a close. (Javier Vicencio / Eyepix Group/Future Publishing via Getty Images / Getty Images)
Swift’s sway extended beyond music into football this year, too.
Nearly three times as many tickets for Kansas City Chiefs home games got picked up on StubHub in 24 hours after Swift went to her first game on Sept. 24, according to the company. She and tight-end Travis Kelce are currently in a relationship.
The average price and number of tickets sold on StubHub for home games against teams like the Los Angeles Chargers, Buffalo Bills and Cincinnati Bengals experienced significant daily increases in how much they typically cost prior to her going to games, StubHub found.
Deion Sanders
Sanders, often called "Coach Prime," was with the Colorado Buffaloes for the 2023 college football season.
His presence as head coach helped the team supplant Ohio State to earn a spot on StubHub’s 10 most popular teams in terms of ticket sales at the season’s kickoff. That, according to the ticket marketplace, was their first appearance in the top 10.
Colorado Buffaloes head coach Deion Sanders jogs around the field before a game between the Colorado Buffaloes and the Oregon State Beavers at Folsom Field on Nov. 4, 2023 in Boulder, Colorado. (Photo by Dustin Bradford/Getty Images / Getty Images)
The Colorado Buffaloes also experienced ticket sales at the start of the season that were 15 times higher than the prior year’s, StubHub reported.
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The team wrapped up its season with Sanders at the helm last week with four wins and eight losses.
Lionel Messi
Messi’s new team, Inter Miami, and Major League Soccer (MLS) as a whole experienced major lifts due to the legendary soccer player.
His move boosted Inter Miami, owned by Jorge Mas, David Beckham and Jose Mas, from the 13th best-selling team to first place for the 2023 season, according to StubHub. The team’s ticket sales were reportedly 85% higher than Los Angeles FC, the second most-popular.
Lionel Messi smiles during the French Ligue 1 soccer match between Paris Saint-Germain and Clermont Foot 63 at Parc des Princes Stadium in Paris on June 3, 2023. (Mustafa Yalcin/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images / Getty Images)
The ticket marketplace also suggested Messi appeared to have an influence on the ticket prices, with those for Inter Miami surging almost three times higher "within 72 hours of the announcement" of him joining the team in June. The soccer player "drove the average price of tickets sold when on the road" too, such as the game against the New York Red Bulls that sold for $495 on average when Inter Miami was in town compared to the $199 season average, StubHub reported.
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For MLS as a whole, the league saw an increase in ticket sales of 160% of what they were in 2022, the company said.
The so-called "Messi Effect" has not been limited to the sport either. He reportedly brought Apple’s MLS Season Pass a major spike in subscriptions in July after he moved to Inter Miami.
Time magazine named Messi the 2023 "Athlete of the Year" on Wednesday.