There are scholarly debates over the theory of value, which one would think is a basic concept. Some base value on the amount of labor invested, while other theories focus on capital, or raw materials. In the relatively free markets of the West, value is determined in a way that makes for win-win situations.

The value of something is exactly the amount that the buyer is willing to pay for it, and the seller is willing to accept. This applies to everything; including the outrageously expensive sporting event tickets detailed below, for which, despite their astonishingly elevated prices, people literally line-up in droves to purchase.

NOTE: Prices go up, prices go down; different deals are made for different folks, and some tickets are for one game, while others are for a season. The numbers, therefore, are somewhat approximate, and there is no way to put them in order. But remember: If you have to ask, “How much?” then you can’t afford any of them.

1. ANY GAME AT YANKEE STADIUM

TICKET TYPE: Legends Suites

PRICE TAG: $600,000 to $1,000,000+

The new Yankee Stadium was completed in 2009.

The new $1.5 billion Yankee Stadium has a variety of high-priced seats and suites. The Legends Suites – actually 122 front-row seats that line the field in all the primo spots – include use of a two-story private club, food and drink service at your seat, and two dugout lounges. The price? Merely $2,500 per seat, per game.

Before you whip out the checkbook, there’s a catch: you have to lease Legends Suite seats for three, five, seven, or ten years at a time. A five-year deal runs around a cool million, but the price goes up as the team gets deeper into the playoffs.

Too much? There are also 66 luxury boxes with 12- to 32-person capacities, and they’re bargains at $600,000 to $850,000 annually.

2. SUPER BOWL XLV

TICKET TYPE: Luxury Suite for 25

PRICE TAG: $200,000+

Super Bowl XLV, another big NFL moneymaker.

Of all pro sports, the Super Bowl has the costliest tickets and package deals. For Super Bowl XLV at Cowboys Stadium on February 6, 2011, prices for the prime seats in the “100 section” were $9,000. They sold out almost three months before the game.

For merely $1,500, you could buy a “tailgating” ticket that didn’t even get you into the game – just into the parking lot for barbecue and partying. In the secondary market, the online ticket site StubHub reported that the Super Bowl’s average ticket price was up 50% over last year.

The day before the game, the cheapest StubHub Super Bowl ticket was just under $2,000, but prices ranged all the way up to $65,000. Luxury suites for 25 people (catered, of course) went for $200,000 and up.

3. 2012 LONDON OLYMPICS

TICKET TYPE: Opening Ceremonies

PRICE TAG: $441,000

It hasn’t even happened yet, and it’s setting ticket price records.

The British press is reporting that the face value of the top-rated hospitality seats at the 2012 London Olympics will be the “second most expensive in the history of sport.”

The Mail says the “Prestige” seats at the most popular, best-attended events, will cost $8,800. The 2011 Super Bowl’s top single-seat ticket was $9,000, making London 2012 “Prestige” seats a relative bargain – except they’re sold in blocks of ten (minimum).

It gets costlier if you want to attend one or both opening ceremonies. Even if you want to see one, you must buy tickets to both, in addition to four other pricey events. Total cost? $441,000 – but if you want a lower number, pay it in British pounds. It only takes 270,000 of those.

4. 2011 BCS (BOWL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES)

TICKET TYPE: Any

PRICE TAG: $2,760 to $15,000

Auburn and Oregon both had lots of fans who dreamed of  a championship game.

The Arizona Attorney General’s office received scores of complaints from people who paid in advance and received no tickets, or had other misadventures in their attempts to attend the 2011 BCS title game. The two weeks leading up to the game were nightmarish, even for seasoned ticket brokers, as the $300 and $325 face-value tickets were in great demand.

Prices fluctuated wildly because several online ticket brokers stopped taking orders when they discovered they had sold more tickets than they could ultimately lay their hands on. People expecting tickets in the mail got e-mail promises of a refund, while some dealers tried to buy back tickets they’d already sold, sometimes offering double the original purchase price.

The last online tickets, in the last few days before the game, went for $4,000 to $5,000 for prime seats. StubHub reportedly listed two club seats in the first row for $15,000 apiece on the same day that a couple was scammed with fake tickets at the same price. Synchronicity!

5. 2010 WINTER OLYMPICS GOLD MEDAL HOCKEY MATCH

TICKET TYPE: General Admission

PRICE TAG: $5,000

Canadians won the gold in 2010. You had to have some gold to see it, too.

After Vancouver was chosen as the host city for the 2010 Olympic Games, Canadians had to wait over seven years to win the gold before a home crowd. The Canada-USA gold medal contest wasn’t expected, as Sweden, Finland, or Russia was supposed to be in it, not the Americans. But the North American rivalry was great for media coverage, fan interest – and ticket prices.

Ticket prices started with such a quick run-up that online ticket seller SaveFans.com predicted they would be the most expensive ever sold on the site. Prices fell short of the record, and far short of the highest “possibly in the history of hockey,” but the cheapest game tickets were still almost $3,000.

The average asking price on the night before the game was over $5,000. For one game in Canada a $5,000 ticket is a big deal, but most of Canada thinks it was worth it, because they won their second gold medal in hockey since 1956. In Canada, hockey is more of a religion than a sport, so it’s doubtful any price would have been “too high,” considering the result.

BOTTOM LINE

The amount of money in pro sports is staggering. Top players in every sport are millionaires, and team owners are often billionaires. Middle- and working-class people make up most of the fan base, though, so some teams are trying to keep tickets affordable for them – like the Yankees, who will keep the ticket price under $40 for 24,000 seats in the new stadium.

Of course, wealthy people like sports, too; especially when they can watch games from the comfort of a swanky private lounge with a few dozen friends. All you need is a few hundred thousand dollars, and you’re set! Now, when are basketball courts going to add luxury boxes? The NBA referees probably wouldn’t mind Jack Nicholson being somewhere other than the front row at Lakers games, you know?

Image URLs:

http://www.thewizofodds.com/.a/6a00e553e551d188340133f3197a7b970b-500wi

1. http://www.visitingdc.com/images/yankee-stadium-address.jpg

2. http://pegasusnews.com/media/img/photos/2010/06/17/thumbs/SuperBowl2011.jpg.728x520_q85.jpg

3. http://canadiansportsfan.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/london-2012.png

4. http://sportsonadime.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/BCS-2011-National-Championship1.jpg

5. http://www.csmonitor.com/var/ezflow_site/storage/images/media/images/olympics-usa-canada-hockey.jpg/7477556-1-eng-US/Olympics-USA-Canada-hockey.jpg_full_600.jpg

SOURCES

http://www.forbes.com/2008/03/24/suites-sport-luxury-forbeslife-cx_ls_0325sports.html

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/sports_blog/2011/02/super-bowl-ticket-prices-are-way-up-in-secondary-ticket-market.html

http://canadiansportsfan.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/london-2012.png

http://www.savefans.com/blog/2010/02/2010-mens-olympic-ice-hockey-gold-medal-game-usa-vs-canada-sunday-february-28th-canada-hockey-place-tickets/ and http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/news?slug=ys-cnbcgoldtix022610