Spain vs. Italy – Vienna, Austria

The Ultimate Sports Wife and I attended the Euro Cup Quarterfinal between Spain and Italy in Vienna, Austria on Sunday night. It was the first time Spain beat Italy in a competitive match since 1920.

We arrived in Vienna on Friday night along with a plane full of Spanish fans. Some of the fans stated they were traveling to Vienna to watch the match in the FanZone since tickets to the match were too expensive. This got us wondering how much tickets were selling for since we felt this was one of the best possible matches to attend.

Originally we had three tickets to this match through a business contact of mine. When my travelling soccer friends declined to use the extra ticket I shopped it around to the online ticket brokers. I sold the ticket to ticketcity.com rather than try to sell an international match ticket online, or worse, in Vienna. Remember brokers try to buy tickets at wholesale and sell at retail. Thus, most online sites had ticket prices ranging from $700 to $1000 (or Euros in some cases) per ticket.

Knowing this pre-match price we were convinced ticket prices must have increased (making me feel bad I had already sold my extra ticket). On Saturday afternoon, we noticed the pre-match ticket market was located in Stephansplatz – a square at the geographical center of Vienna. Nicole asked a woman (in Spanish) how much for two tickets to the match. The woman responded 400 Euros (around $620) per ticket for category 1. That price made me feel more comfortable about the price I received for our extra ticket.

On Sunday, we met some Italy fans from Mexico who said tickets were priced around 500 Euros for category 1 tickets. Ticket prices were holding relatively steady. However, when we arrive at the Vienna stadium, ticket prices had taken a turn for the worse (if you were selling). About 20-25 people were holding up extra tickets, meaning nobody was buying. We asked one guy how much for his tickets. He said 110 Euros (FACE VALUE!) and seemed nervous about receiving that price. Somehow, the market had bottomed out and no Spaniards or Italians could be found to buy the extra tickets since the pre-match ticket price scared them away.

How did the market change so much? As with any ticket market, the answer is who knows! It is never easy to predict when to buy tickets. Basically, you need to determine how much risk you are willing to take in not attending the game. If the game is that important and you have flown to Europe, most people will pay a premium to ensure they have tickets. But what that premium will be is often your ability to watch and research the ticket market at different time.

Netherlands vs. Romania - Bern, Switzerland

We are staying in Lucerne, Switzerland which is one hour from Zurich and 1.5 hours from Bern. On Tuesday night, Zurich was hosting Italy vs. France and and Bern was hosting the Netherlands vs. Romania. By looking at the game only, one may decide to drive to Zurich (a shorter distance and a better matchup). However, after looking at ticket prices, the Ultimate Sports Wife and I decided to drive to Bern (about $300 less per ticket).

We did not have tickets to either match, but wanted to visit Bern at some point during our trip. We chose Tuesday because of the match. We arrived to Bern and parking in a parking lot in the city center since we knew there would be no way to park by the stadium. It cost 25.10 Swiss Francs (equivalent to $25).

We took the "walking tour" of Bern. The Dutch and Romania fans were all over the town. As we walked towards the FanZone (a Euro Cup sponsored area where fans eat and drink before the game), we found scalpers with tickets. The first guy had two singles (200 and 160 euros) each. I considered it, since they were the first tickets we found, but Nicole said why would we spend that much to sit along (good point I thought). Next, we found a scalper with two together. He wanted 300 euros for the pair. I asked for 200 but he said no. 250 I asked. No he said. I walked away knowing full well I would pay 300. He asked,"How about 280?" Hesitating, I said ok but I only have Swiss Francs. Immediately he said 450. I asked 440 (remember everything is negotiable), but we agreed on 450. Nicole and I made sure the tickets looked legit and made the transaction.

Afterwards, Nicole and I continued touring Bern before walking to the stadium. 40,000 Dutch fans had shown up to Bern. The Netherlands won the match 2-0. After the match, we had to walk the "long" way back since so many fans were mingling in the area from the stadium to the city center.

Hotels vs. Hostels in Vienna, Austria

The combination of the White Sox being home and my working about an hours drive north of Wrigley Field has kept my sporting events attendance at bay this week. Instead of attending, I began planning the hotel portion of our upcoming trip to Switzerland and Austria for Euro Cup 2008.

We are spending 4 nights in Switzerland and 3 nights in Vienna, Austria. Since we have more time and flexibility in Switzerland I chose to spend my time researching Vienna hotels.

We already have tickets for the quarterfinal match in Vienna, Austria on Sunday, June 22 so we have to spend the weekend in Vienna rather than seeing any other portion of Austria. After a quick glance at the following websites I decided that hotels in Vienna were too expensive.

1) hotels.com: most rooms were above $300 per night and I would have to do a lot of research to determine whether they were in good locations.
2) karenbrown.com: had 3 preferred hotels that were around the 150 euro price range. I would have to call to find out if they were full during the popular weekend.
3) tablethotels.com: none of their Vienna hotels had availability.
4) venere.com: rooms seemed pricey.

The cost and lack of options prompted me to logon to hostelworld.com. I booked a hostel through the website when I flew to Paris for a few days to watch the French Open in 2005. While staying at the hostel I met a lot of recent college graduates and had a great time. Thus, I broached the subject to the Ultimate Sports Wife. I had multiple reasons for staying in the hostel:

1) We were planning to tour Vienna pretty heavy in the two days we had and would not spend much time in the hotel.
2) It would be fun to meet some people in the hostel. It is much harder to meet people in hotels. Plus we would be in bunk beds in a room of 4 – it is really easy to meet people when they are staying in your room!
3) It was only $120 per night for both of us vs. the mid $300’s per night.

Nicole did not jump at the idea. I think the bunk beds did her in so I continued to do some more hotel research. I went back to Venere.com and found a decent looking hotel (Hotel Adlon) for 149 Euros per night ($235). We decided that at only twice as much as the hostel that the hotel was the way to go.