Ticket Alert: BTS Are Playing at Stanford, For Some Reason

K-pop demigods BTS this morning announced a world tour, which stops at just one place in Northern California: Stanford University. Tickets for the group’s shows at Stanford Stadium on May 16 and 17 go on sale to members of the BTS Army on Thursday, Jan. 22, and the general public on Saturday, Jan. 24.

You may be wondering, “Why Stanford, of all places?” Did some wealthy alumni pull some very large strings? Did the university itself lobby heavily for it? After all, Levi’s Stadium is just 13 miles away, has nothing on the calendar for mid-May, and can hold 18,000 more people per show. For events that will surely sell out instantly, like these BTS shows, playing at Levi’s Stadium would be better for both fans and tour revenue.

But this may be a trend to get used to. Last year, Coldplay headlined Stanford Stadium in the venue’s first standalone concert. Though neighbors from as far away as Redwood City reported hearing the music, the reviews were good, Stanford students introduced the band — a nice touch — and getting out of the parking lots onto Hwy. 101 took an estimated 30–45 minutes on average (which sounds bad, but it’s comparable to Levi’s Stadium).

A more cynical explanation might be that, ahead of their three nights at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas and four nights at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles, BTS is hoping to ramp up enthusiasm for their tour by intentionally playing a smaller venue, thus shutting fans out, inciting desperation and inflating the secondhand ticket market, from which both artists and promoters profit.

But BTS, one of the biggest groups in the world, hardly needs to manufacture excitement for their tour, which they’re performing in the round. And aside from the more limited seating at Stanford, they’re already using a byzantine process to ensure tickets get to diehard fans. That involves 9-digit ARMY ID numbers, multiple signups, and a consistent email address across ARMY membership, Weverse and Ticketmaster accounts.

You can study up for the rigorous ticket sale process here. Good luck to all — you’ll need it.