Ticket Stubs: The Hobby’s Hottest Collectible

How the pandemic and professional grading have made ticket stub collecting more popular than ever.

By Sal Barry

While trading cards may always be number one among sports memorabilia enthusiasts, ticket stub collecting has gradually heated up over the past two years. It has done so for two reasons. The COVID-19 pandemic and grading companies have both made collecting physical ticket stubs more popular than ever. However, digital ticketing may erode some of that enthusiasm – but maybe not for long.

When the COVID-19 pandemic first caused shutdowns and “shelter at home” orders in March 2020, many people started at-home hobbies. Some discovered, or rediscovered, sports card collecting, causing cards to surge in popularity and price over the past two years. Then, ticket stubs experienced its own uptick in interest.

“The pandemic got more people to look at their ticket stubs and see if they could sell them on eBay,” said Paul White, who has collected ticket stubs for 30 years. “People wanted to see if their ticket stubs are worth something, and to some people, they are. I’ve actually found more ticket stubs on eBay since the pandemic, which has been a benefit.”

White, a lifelong Boston Bruins fan, collects a ticket stub and program for every game where a Bruins goalie has made his NHL debut. He is also trying to get a ticket stub from all 70 Bruins regular season games from the 1963-64 season. That year, Bruins goalie Eddie Johnston started every game, and was the last goalie to play every game in a season for an NHL team.

“A lot of people collect game-used jerseys and game-used sticks, but to me, a torn ticket is also a game-used item,” White said. “ Technically, someone was at that game. That’s why ticket stubs intrigue me. It’s funny, but I’m not quite a fan of full, unused tickets.”

However, some collectors like ticket stubs in as-pristine condition as possible. When Professional Sports Authenticators (PSA) started grading ticket stubs, it legitimized them as part of the hobby. “Once PSA started grading ticket stubs, I became interested,” said Darren Rovell, who writes about sports business for the Action Network. “Now, tickets have a place. They are being graded like cards, and people can look at graded population reports, just like with cards, and see how scarce some of these are.”

Rovell collects graded ticket stubs to events that he finds “mind blowing.” Among the jewels in his collection are a stub from a 1992 Summer Olympic Men’s Basketball gold medal game featuring the “Dream Team,” and a stub from the first-ever Ferris Wheel ride at the 1893’s Chicago’s World’s Fair.

“When I started collecting ticket stubs, around 20 graded tickets came on eBay every day,” Rovell said. “And now, it’s more than 2,000 a day. There were probably around 150 active graded ticket stub collectors prior to the pandemic. Now, it’s more than 5,000. The prices for some graded ticket stubs are up 30 or 40 times since this past September.”

Even ungraded ticket stubs are soaring in value. About five years ago, White paid $25 for a ticket stub from the Pittsburgh Penguins’ home opener of the 2005-06 season, because Bruins’ rookie goaltender Hannu Toivonen made his NHL debut that night. Penguins’ rookie – and future superstar and eventual Hall of Famer – Sidney Crosby also made his Pittsburgh home debut in that game, making that ticket a hot commodity. “Now, I see that stub selling in the $250 to $300 range,” White said. “Sometimes, one event overshadows another, making ticket stub prices higher than you’d normally want to pay.”

Over the past several years, most pro teams have switched to alternate ticketing methods, such as “print-at-home” tickets which are usually just a barcode and an ad banner, or entirely paperless tickets where attendees show a barcode on their smartphones.

For White, a Bruins season ticket holder, digital ticketing was not a problem – at least for a little while. The Bruins offered attendees the opportunity to also get paper tickets for the games, which he did, at no additional cost. Since the pandemic, though, the Bruins no longer use paper tickets, nor do they sell programs, which will make White’s goal of getting a keepsake difficult the next time a young Bruins goalie makes it to the Show. If the Bruins call up a goalie from the minors and he makes his NHL debut, I’m praying that they are playing in an arena where they have something to give out to fans,” White said. “If not an actual ticket, then some sort of program or something to keep my collection going.”

Rovell thinks that, given ticket stubs growing popularity, teams will reconsider their paperless approach. Some teams will sometimes print tickets if the situation merits it. “Right now, the issue has been for high-end season ticket holders,” Rovell said. “If something great happens, like a player debut or milestone, then the team prints out tickets. But the tickets are the horrible box office-type tickets that lack color and graphics. There’s an aesthetic issue there.”

But if collectors can cash in on ticket stubs, surely teams will want to do so, as well. “If teams can make money for paper tickets, then they’ll offer it again,” said Rovell. “But it can’t be a commemorative ticket, where everyone gets the same thing. It has to have the seat, row, and section numbers on it. They’ll do that if ticket collecting continues its current trajectory. It’s on fire.”

If you collect graded ticket stubs, the BCW Graded Shoe Box will fit most slabs. And if you collect ungraded stubs, check out this article about how to organize your ticket stub collection in albums and pages.

Do you collect ticket stubs? If so, for how long? What’s your favorite stub? Leave a comment and let us know!

Sal Barry is the webmaster of the hockey collectibles site PuckJunk.com. Email him at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter and Instagram.