Cubs playoff tickets in Pittsburgh a third of the cost of Chicago prices

Cubs fans making the 924-mile round trip to Pittsburgh to see the National League wild-card game on Wednesday night may end up spending less money than they would have had if the game had been at Wrigley Field.

Chris Leyden, a content analyst for SeatGeek.com, said the tickets for Wednesday's game at PNC Park, while still historically expensive, are about one-third of what they would have been had the game been in Chicago.

Leyden said when he checked prices Sunday morning, before it was determined where the game would be played, the median listing price on the resale market at Wrigley Field was $728. As of Monday evening, the listing price at PNC Park was $284.

The prices for Wednesday's game will be the most expensive for a wild-card game since MLB changed the playoff format for the 2012 season.

"It looks like it's going to be most expensive Pirates home game in at least five years," Leyden said. "We are speculating at least part of it is Cubs fans."

Leyden said 19 percent of tickets sold for the game from their site have come from the Chicago area. That's significant when you consider that the game is during the week and so far away, he said.

Pittsburgh ticket broker Robert Mazzie of Steel City Tickets said because this is the third year in a row the Pirates have hosted the wild-card game, local fans seem less interested in spending big money on prime tickets, and those who have tickets may be more willing to part with them.

"Pirates fans aren't going to pay $800-$900 to sit close to the field in a wild-card game," said Mazzie, who has sold tickets in Pittsburgh for 23 years. "There is a fine line between a Pirates fan keeping their ticket and between them selling their ticket to a Cubs fan, who could be a little more hungry to go."

Mazzie said the first year the Pirates hosted the wild-card game, it was a much different story.

"That first year we could've been playing the Little Sisters of the Poor, it didn't matter who was playing, it was going to be crazy," he said.

Cubs fans who still haven't decided if they are going to make the trip to see their team in the playoffs for the first time in seven years still have plenty of options. Leyden said there are about 3,000 to 4,000 tickets still left for sale on SeatGeek for pretty much every section of the ballpark.