A Ticket to the Kentucky Derby May Cost More Than a World Series Ticket

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By Douglas A. McIntyre Updated Published
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A Ticket to the Kentucky Derby May Cost More Than a World Series Ticket

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The price for a ticket to the Super Bowl can run as much as $5,000, and in some cases much more. The cost of a World Series ticket is closer to $ 2,000.

For just the two-minute run of the Kentucky Derby, which will be run for the 145th time on Saturday, the ticket prices are particularly expensive. The most expensive tickets available the day before the race are $2,600. That gets someone a seat in a box near the finish line. The Winner’s Circle Suites only hold 18 people, however,  those suites have their own balconies, wagering machines, food catering and bars.

At the lower end, attendees can still get in for much less to attend the oldest continuously held sporting event in America. The Kentucky Derby draws about 150,000 fans to the Churchill Downs Racetrack each year. Really cheap seats are on sale for under $200. That buys someone a seat at the far end of the track, well away from the famous grandstand where the owners and their friends have lavish parties and enjoy what horse-racing fans consider “the most exciting two minutes in sports.” And these are the fastest horses in the race’s history.

Attendees can come through the gates as early as 8 a.m. on Saturday morning. The race isn’t run until 6:50 p.m., which gives people hours to party or look back at the most iconic horses to race in the Kentucky Derby.

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Photo of Douglas A. McIntyre
About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.

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