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.