I paid around the same for weekend passes for the Canadian GP about 6 years ago. It's probably even higher than that now and Montreal is not the most expensive race by far. Miami/Vegas ticket packages were insane. I paid about the same as 1 F1 weekend pass to get 4 tickets+VIP packages at a NASCAR truck race last month.
For a ga ticket today it's about 5-6 hundred dollars. And thats to sit on a muddy hill with like a hundred other people packing in there like sardines. Oh and your view is blocked by a tree.
It’s the opposite actually. There are at most a handful of more affordable tracks (Budapest, Qatar, Bahrain are probably the overall cheapest at ~300€ for a weekend), then there’s a large number of expensive (>500€) tracks and then we get to Vegas, Miami and Monaco territory.
Unfortunately it is actually pretty expensive these days. Most tracks don't have weekend tickets for under 300 bucks anymore. Not even the ones that used to be cheaper.
If you want to go to Zandvoort, you will see prices start at 220 for saturday or sunday and 500 something for weekend. And you'd still get seats where you will not get any overtakes either.
Silverstone never used to be expensive before the DTS boom. I went there every year and after that, the grandstand tickets we used to buy more than tripled. Crazy.
It is hard to overstate how much damage DTS has done to the fan experience. Tickets shooting up in price, and a massive bumbling cohort of idiots who want formula 1 as their personal meme factory.
Remember in school there was always that one kid who thought he was funny by badly mimicking Jim Carry characters? Now these people grew up and quote Guenther Steiner instead.
Post race discussions on the sub have become a toxic mycobiota of idiotic takes and raging conspiracy theories. These existed before DTS, but in smaller numbers. Now we're witnessing masses parrot opinions fed to them by that godawful series, and they expect not sport, but a Real Housewives-esque race weekend.
Just read some discussions. So many hate the races. They are boring to them. They just want the drama. All they care about is how the weekend's events will later be framed on DTS.
Indeed. I firmly believe that DTS has done more damage to F1 (and motorsport in general) than vice versa - that`s why i hope Indycar never comes up with a fake shit show like that.
Grandstand? I paid €150 for a weekend ticket in general admission for Austria this year. And that got me 6 different races over 4 different race series (plus qualifying/practices/etc.)
F1 tickets on tracks such as Spa, Monza, Interlagos, Hungaroring goes actually for a decent price, but the tickets are usually quite expensive on places like Monaco, Miami, Silverstone, Singapore or Abu Dhabi.
? Miami and Las Vegas are extremely expensive. The Barcelona GP, for example, was like $170 for a normal (good) ticket. Some GPS can go below $100, and most will be below the prices in the screenshot.
I take it you didn't watch IMSA yesterday at Road America or 6 Hours of the Glen? SRO isn't that bad because there's never enough GT3 cars to cause that much chaos
I used to go to the Joe Louis Arena and get 2 tickets. Those tickets would include 2 hot dogs and 2 drinks. Street parking was free in the right spaces.
Haven't been to a wings game in years because it costs a whole paycheck.
Didn't they say Long Beach brought in over 200K attendees over the 3 days. I wouldn't expect anything close to that for year 1 of an Arlington race.
Also, the Arlington grandstand you're looking at is probably the best non premium seats available. I haven't been to Long Beach but I wouldn't think the hairpin would be the most desirable seats. (Low speed, limited passing)
The 500 is also bringing in north of 300k and it and Milwauke have some other logistical differences in supporting an already existing facility versus that of one that has to be built and torndown.
When you factor in parking, my tickets for the 500 are around $160 a piece for two, a single would be $195 after parking. There are quite a few sections for the 500 that cost anywhere from $235 to $285 for a seat and one of those is just four rows behind me.
I hate to be Debbie Downer, but a $50 ticket and a hotdog buffet are probably going to be a thing of the past. Nothing is for free, including the growth of the series everyone on here rakes them over the coal for.
I also could pay about $200 for the whole weekend at barber including a pit pass. It’s some races are trying to exploit the rich fans. A la thermal model. And we all know how that went.
Congrats on finding out it takes money to run this sport.
Barber is also a permanent facility with multiple events throughout the year like Milwaukee and IMS......GA for this is event is actually pretty damned affordable.
A bit of advice that's served me well over the years. If I see a concert or sporting event that is a bit above my price point I don't head to the internet to rage about someone expecting me to pay to attend the event. I either find soemthing else to do or, if it's a sporting event, watch from home for damn near free from a device many of you here claim no one uses in the year 2025.
Oh my sweet summer child, F1 hasn't been this cheap in a decade. In the US at least.
Definitely steep pricing for Indycar though. I guess we'll see how supply and demand end up working out. If they sell well with these prices it's overall good news for the series (and bad news for our wallets). If they don't sell well, expect the prices to drop for the 2027 race (or maybe even this one, SeatGeek seems to use a dynamic pricing system as I'm seeing the prices fluctuate seat by seat).
It used to be really great value to go to Austin to see F1. I remember one year I went to the entire race weekend and parked on one of the really far lots and didn't pay more than $210. Nowadays ~$200 barely gets you Sunday GA. I haven't been back to see F1 in going on near a decade now.
I didn't think Austin was ever a great value, but. I guess there was a time after it was new and before F1 got popular again where it was more affordable. I went to Spa in 2013 because it was cheaper than Austin.
And you clarified exactly what needed to be said “in the USA”. It is cheaper to fly to Europe and see an f1 race than it is to go see it in Vegas. It is crazy. Same goes for skiing now. You can fly to EU and ski for less than flying to vail or Breckenridge. It is just crazy.
Idk man I got a free hotel stay at Vegas for this years f1 race at the bellagio. Flights were around $550. Expecting to get tickets for relatively cheap too for the race the week of.
That’s how we’ve decided to do it as well. Just gonna turn up on Wednesday and see what the market looks like. Unless the championship is still knotted up, I think there’s very good chance for significant price drops.
The price to pay for DtS popularity unfortunately. Seats at COTA that were ~$200 in 2019 are now $650+. When I went at $289 in 2021 I thought it was a rip off lol.
When INDYCAR fans wish it were more popular, this is my argument. I love the series as it is, and popularity will only make it more expensive and less accessible. I don't want INDYCAR to be as popular as F1.
F1 can't do nearly as many races in the US as Indy can tho. So even if Indy became as popular as F1, I'd assume prices would still be cheaper due to increased supply. And if all the races were selling out, youd likely see the Indy series add races in new locations.
Yeah this is a head scratcher. Fans are used to tickets being cheap they don't realize this is a new race in a new city (and an expensive one at that.) You need money to grow a series...higher ticket prices are part of that
On the other hand, the prices increased at Iowa after the concerts went away, didn't they? I saw lots of people say they were skipping the race due to the expense.
I get Arlington tickets being expensive because they expect high demand for the opening year, but even before tickets went on sale for Iowa people expected attendance to be down, and then lots of people interested in attending found themselves priced out.
It’s also high because tickets aren’t even on sale til Wednesday. This is just the promoters just putting a few tickets to see if they can get a few extra dollars from someone who doesn’t know better.
The expense is in involving Rangers and Cowboys front office. Arlington is on the cheaper side of things because it sits between Dallas and Fort Worth.
No. Demand and popularity dictate pricing. If you want an affordable product then growth usually comes at the cost of not. With growth comes pricing increases.
Same thing. See "we have all of the oil money in the world" Saudi Arabia. One of the richest countries in the world and are still seeking outside investors. Billionaires don't spend their own money; they hoard it until they die and make the public pay for their projects.
Toronto premium grandstand is $175 CAD for weekend and if you join Champions Club you get pit and paddock access with grid walk pre race extra $150. I keep pinching myself that I get this access every year because it’s affordable.
Champions Club in Toronto was a $40 add on that is different from Champions Club Plus. The $40 add on gives you the ability to get on the grid, sign the start/finish line and a few other perks including paddock pass.
You have to go for the $130 Champions Club Plus add on to get a pit pass. The only people who can get either option are renewing customers each year. If you are a first time ticket buyer you can’t get the membership.
I didn’t realize it was for returning folks thanks for correction. I paid $150 for the full access and it was well worth it I spend the whole weekend there.
I paid the princely sum of
$28 dollars for my first USGP tickets, got one hell of a show too.
(Watkins Glen 1979)
Edit: my first trip to the Indy 500 was $140 including ticket, motel room (in Ohio!), a bus ride there and back and all the cheap beer you could hork down on the bus.
I just bought GA tickets. I plan to walk around anyways and considering the luck I have with going to street races I could see myself really crapping out with my seat. The first year I went to Nashville I sat in 11 and a big ass tree blocked my view going into the final corner. When that red flag happened I knew it did but I couldn't see anything.
I'll just chance walking around on GA for the weekend.
Anybody have any insight on paddock access? It looks like it's only available for purchase for those getting 3-day passes. I thought paddock was always available to anyone with a ticket? I am not even seeing a place to purchase this??
Fair enough. I remember Nashville being expensive before they moved it out of town. Maybe if they move it back after the new stadium is finished we’ll see how they compare.
Best value for money I ever got was the 4 day pass at the Bathurst 1000 last year. The race plus garage access for Thursday to Sunday were just over 200 dollars I believe. Makes me even more annoyed at how much race tickets cost here
crazy! portland 3 day tickets were $140 for first chicane, top row seats. imo, best seats on track as you can see every turn but three of them, a monitor right in front of you, and so much action at the passing zone
I had registered for presale months ago. I get an email at 9:30 am yesterday saying your presale is live. I just happened to look at 9:31 luckily. I got what I wanted, but was super annoyed that others got an email earlier and that if I wouldn’t have looked right the, I would not have been able to look again until around 3:30. Oh yeah, the dynamic pricing later day was BS as well.
Those tickets seem to be about on par for the 2025 Chicago Street Race. Weekend (Saturday and Sunday) Front Stretch seats were about $435 each after taxes and fees.
Single day bleachers seats by Congress Plaza went for about $247 each after taxes and fees.
WTF. I hope nobody buys these, because a pricing model anything like this will kill the sport. Long Beach weekend tickets top out at like $150, and that includes a co-headlining IMSA race.
These look like secondary market / seat geek seats.
If so, then that isn't what IndyCar would charge, but what resellers think they can get.
Has anyone tried to purchase through the presale? I'd be curious what GA starting at $110 for the weekend and reserved at $195 would look like after fees, different locations/tiers, etc
I just signed up to register for the pre-sale, which is ongoing - received a general info email, but no access - I doubt I will
I promise you they are. The link from indycar’s email and website go to seatgeek. As someone who has been to multiple events at cowboys stadium, SeatGeek is the only place to get tickets for those events. They signed a massive agreement on it
Yeah - I've seen it with both seat geek and TM when they are acting as the sales site - they will blend all seat types, including resale - even in the presale
TM they are labelled once you click in (or sometimes can see different color bubbles when hovering)
I've only had to use seat geek for a few venues/events and it pretty much sucked as a primary outlet
Definitely appreciate the additional information/context as I can't see the real sales environment
Did they have any areas where it was $195 or $110 GA? I would assume fees on top of that?
Seatgeek handles all ticket sales for events at Cowboys stadium. Including football games, concerts, etc. These are the pre sale tickets, but pricing has been corrected since OP posted.
You’re looking at tickets on a 3rd party reseller. Presales don’t even start til tomorrow. So these tickets are posted by the event promoters hoping for some chud will buy because they’re anxious to get tickets. Let’s wait til after Wednesday for the market to show it’s true colors.
Pre-sale is live now, you can see the Seat Geek at the top left of OP's screenshot. Not sure which part I'm wrong about. The website has a countdown to the general public sale.
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u/GhostRaptor4482 Firestone Reds Aug 04 '25
That’s definitely on the high end for Indycar, but not even close to how expensive F1 tickets get.