So you just realized you have next weekend off and you want to grab tickets to an upcoming event. The only problem is, last minute tickets can be expensive and difficult to find.
So what do you do? Throw in the towel and give your weekend dreams a “maybe next time”? Oh no.
The truth is, there are several sites and apps that help you find good deals on last-minute tickets to sports, concerts, and other events.
So you can save your weekend and go to that event without spending all your hard-earned money in the process.
In this article, I’ll compare 4 of the top websites/apps to find the best price on last minute event tickets: Gametime, ScoreBig, Ticketmaster, and Direct Seats.
To test the prices, I’ve searched for tickets to a college football game using all 4 of the sites/apps in this comparison. I looked for tickets to the next home game for the Alabama Crimson Tide, which is just over 2 weeks away.
While that may not seem like last minute, Alabama is the number one college football team in the country at the time of this writing, and people in Alabama are fanatical about football. Suffice it to say, two weeks out might as well be last minute in this case.
So here are the top 4 places to find last-minute deals on event tickets:
Gametime is specifically for last minute tickets to event. It’s basically an iOS and Android app that texts you tickets so you don’t have to print out a PDF, but in actuality it’s a lot more than just that. There are a lot of cool features in this app, but I’ll stick to price and finding the best deal for this article.
Note: Their app is all based around where you’re at, so if you’re looking for a specific event that isn’t in your local area, you might be better off looking elsewhere.
So I selected the next home game for the Alabama Crimson Tide, sorted based on the best seat, and was able to find 2 lower-level seats in the end zone for $305/each.
Total price: $732 ($305 each plus fees)
*Save even more on event tickets by using Gametime coupons from Dealspotr
ScoreBig is another event ticket website. They offer great seats at up to 60% off box-office.
So I went to their website, and they already had upcoming events in my area on the home page, which is a convenient touch. I clicked Alabama Crimson Tide football, and just like that, I was already looking at available tickets.
They didn’t show the same end zone seats available, but they did have 2 seats available on section over from the tickets I found on GameTime. However, instead of $305 each, they were $667.80 each, they were $667.80 each. Ouch.
To be fair, I checked out tickets in other sections on ScoreBig and compared them to tickets in the same section on GameTime. ScoreBig’s upper-level seats in the endzone were around $300 each while seats in the same section on Gametime were around $200 each.
Total price: $1,590 (I did find a $25 off coupon on Dealspotr)
*Save even more on event tickets by using ScoreBig coupons from Dealspotr
Ticketmaster needs no introduction, so let’s jump right into the price comparison.
I will say, however, that finding the tickets I wanted was not exactly easy on Ticketmaster. Maybe it’s because they’re too big or have too many events, but it was downright difficult to find the right event I was looking for. Anyways, on to the prices.
When I finally found the game I was looking to get tickets to, I was redirected to a partner site (ticketsnow.com), where I found tickets available near the tickets I found on Gametime.
Two tickets, in the same section as the ones I found on ScoreBig, were $311 each. Not bad.
That’s very close to the tickets I found on Gametime for $305, so I’d still have to say Gametime takes the cake at this point.
However, after looking around at prices for other nearby seats and comparing them to Gametime, this site - ticketsnow.com and I guess by default Ticketmaster - had a little bit better prices overall. It was tight though, and both have competitive prices. At that point, it’s all about which seats are better, and Gametime had the better seats in my opinion.
Total price: $622 + tax (I actually don’t know, as their website kept freezing every time I tried to purchase the tickets)
*Save even more on event tickets by using Ticketmaster coupons from Dealspotr
Last but not least, there’s Direct Seats.
This time I wasn’t wasting a minute. I just went straight to the search bar on their site, searched for Alabama football tickets, and the game I was looking for was right there, easy to find.
Now, it’s worth mentioning that their website might not blow you away, but once I got to their tickets page where I could see their prices, I was impressed.
There were two tickets for $298 each in the same section I’d been looking at on all three of the other ticket sites/apps. On those sites (Direct Seat’s competitors), the lowest I could find was $311 each.
What’s even better is they provided a picture of the seat’s approximate view. That’s nice when you’re trying to visualize how good your view will be, so for me this was a big plus that none of the other sites had.
They even had seats in the upper level of the end zone for around $158 each. Those same upper-level tickets were $240 and up on the previous sites.
TO be completely fair though, Direct Seats did not have the same selection some of the other competitors did, like Gametime and Ticketmaster (er, ticketsnow.com).
Total price: $596
*Save even more on event tickets by using Direct Seats coupons from Dealspotr
So where is the best place to get the best value on last-minute tickets to events?
Well, if you’re basing it strictly on price, I’d have to go with Direct Seats first, with Gametime and Ticketmaster right behind them.
However, if you consider convenience, selection, and price, my vote would have to go with Gametime. Their app is very easy to use and interactive, and they seemed to have a better selection of seats - at least for this event.
Mike is a husband and father of 2 who studies the art of never paying full price for anything.
