Phillies sold 100,000 tickets in less than 24 hours after signing Bryce Harper
Philadelphia Phillies fans went crazy on Thursday when their team won the Bryce Harper sweepstakes and signed the mega-star to a 13-year, $330 million contract. They invaded the internet with their happiness. They had beautifully pure reactions on local news stations. They made Harper and the Phillies a trending topic on Twitter.
And they bought tickets. Lots and lots and lots of tickets.
From when the news broke of Harper’s signing at 3pm ET on Thursday to Friday morning, the Phillies sold 100,000 tickets.
Before the Bryce Harper news broke yesterday, the #Phillies had sold roughly 200,000 more tickets than at this same point last year. They have sold about 100,000 tickets since, #Phillies senior VP of ticket operations John Weber said. Hard to say, but it might be a 1-day record.
— Todd Zolecki (@ToddZolecki) March 1, 2019
John Weber, the Phillies’ senior vice president of ticket operations, told the Philadelphia Inquirer, “It was awesome. We’ve never sold that many tickets in a single day.”
Weber, who has worked for the Phillies since 1987, also told local sports talk radio station WIP that he believes that’s a club record for the largest number of tickets sold in a single day.
The Phillies haven’t signed a ton of major free agents in their history. Cliff Lee, who signed with the Phillies in late 2010, is the most recent one. Weber said that the team sold between 60,000 and 70,000 tickets the day after Lee signed, but that was in the middle of a period of enormous success for the Phillies.
Right now, the Phillies are barely out of their rebuild. Or at least they were until Harper signed that contract. The Phillies have gone all-in and are obviously ready to do a lot more winning. And the fans are ready to watch them do it.
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