Update: All Tickets for Mesa Grand Prix Sell Out Within 48 Hours of Phelps Comeback Announcement

Update: as of 8:30 on Wednesday morning, all tickets are sold out.

Tickets for the finals sessions of the 2014 Mesa Grand Prix in Mesa, Arizona have sold out on Tuesday. This is no coincidence, as on Monday, Michael Phelps announced that he would return from a brief retirement to race at the meet.

Less than 24 hours after that news broke, tickets for Thursday, Friday, and Saturday’s finals sessions were gone; though, comments by Phelps’ coach Bob Bowman this morning indicate that the winningest Olympian of all time might only swim Thursday and Friday.

There will still be plenty of other swimmers to watch on Saturday, though, including Ryan Lochte, Matt Grevers and Katie Ledecky in some of their best events.

With tickets selling for only $10 for finals and $5 for prelims, the opportunity to see Phelps, along with some true swimming superstars at a huge discount leaves little surprise that the approximately 800 tickets available went in a hurry. Meet Director Erin Shields tells us that Saturday’s finals were about 1/2 full before the announcement and the rest were about 1/3 full.

While these sessions all would have likely been sellouts with walk-up tickets, the Phelps factor sparked demand to not miss out on the return of the greatest swimmer of his generation.

Moments before posting, Shields let us know that Saturday’s prelims session had also sold out.

If you’re still interested in purchasing tickets for Thursday and Friday’s prelims, information is available here. As of posting, prelim tickets were still available for all three days of the meet.

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aj swim
10 years ago

I hope lochte and shields swim the 100 fly also, I want to see them battle it out

Paige
10 years ago

Has a psych sheet posted? I can’t find one. Also, anyone carrying live results? Meet Mobile, Deck Pass?
Good Luck at Mesa and looking forward to when they come to Charlotte!
Paige

loveSwimmin
10 years ago

Mesa’s website now says all sessions sold out as of Wed at 8:30 am 🙁

rjcid
10 years ago

STEP RIGHT UP, STEP RIIIIIIIGHT UP…. come see the 8th wonder of the world…..

Place your bets, thank your host:

50 free: 23.5

100 Free: 53.5

100 fly: 56.7

I am completely guessing since he’s only been working out for a while and is just testing the waters.

bobo gigi
Reply to  rjcid
10 years ago

Your predictions sound good on paper but for a 52-year-old Michael Phelps. :mrgreen:

Sharknik
Reply to  rjcid
10 years ago

Lol, you joking?
I’ll take that bet:
50 Free 22.91
100 Free 49.76
100 Fly 52.86

Noelle
10 years ago

can i just buy tickets at the door

Noelle
Reply to  Braden Keith
10 years ago

ok thanks

Noelle
Reply to  Noelle
10 years ago

there is no prelim session tickets the website says they are sold out can i just but them at the door

Lisa
10 years ago

Why the surprise that Lochte and Co can’t sell seats? Does no one remember the ridiculous amount of empty seats in Indy last year… Ticket sales seemed to have plummeted without Phelps around…

bobo gigi
Reply to  Lisa
10 years ago

Why do they prefer to watch a 3 hour boring baseball game rather than watch some of the best swimmers in the world? 🙄
I can’t still understand that.
But I’m not American. 😆

ozswim
Reply to  bobo gigi
10 years ago

Well last year was a post olympic year so I can see how ticket sales would have gone down. But that’s expected

Danm133
Reply to  bobo gigi
10 years ago

Why watch a 3 hour boring swim meet when you can watch an exciting baseball game? 🙂 That argument works both ways

bobo gigi
Reply to  Danm133
10 years ago

Because baseball can be exciting? :mrgreen:

Danm133
Reply to  bobo gigi
10 years ago

Is watching some of the best swimmers swimming not even close to their fastest exciting? 🙂

bobo gigi
Reply to  Lisa
10 years ago

At least you watch the best swimmers in the world. 🙂

Colin Blair
10 years ago

Agreed Bobo, swimming still has a long way to go if those guys alone can’t sell out a venue. Nevertheless exciting weeks ahead.

bobo gigi
10 years ago

It wasn’t already sold out before the announcement? Even with Lochte, Adrian, Coughlin and Ledecky in the water? Weird.

About Braden Keith

Braden Keith

Braden Keith is the Editor-in-Chief and a co-founder/co-owner of SwimSwam.com. He first got his feet wet by building The Swimmers' Circle beginning in January 2010, and now comes to SwimSwam to use that experience and help build a new leader in the sport of swimming. Aside from his life on the InterWet, …

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