Money

Taylor Swift fans lucky enough to get their hands on presale tickets could cash in for tens of thousands of dollars now -- the resale market is absolutely exploding in the wake of Ticketmaster canceling the public sale.

We've checked out seat maps on StubHub in some of the biggest cities Taylor will hit next year on her Eras tour, and the pricing is insane. Mind you, Taylor's doing multiple shows in each city -- so, the following astronomical costs are PER ticket for Saturday shows (typically the most popular) in each city.

Fans hoping to score tickets for Taylor's SoFi Stadium in L.A. show will fork over a minimum of $400, and that's behind the stage ... while the most expensive seat is currently listed at $4,549.

You can score some nosebleeds for $765 at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, or shell out $11,475 for the floor.

However, those prices pale in comparison to the $22,500 you'll pay to see Taylor from the front row at Gillette Stadium in suburban Boston, and the "cheap" seats are $675. There's also Soldier Field in Chicago, where you can sit in the nosebleeds for $800 and land a floor seat for around $5,000.

As we reported, Swifties spiraled this week after Ticketmaster seemingly botched the presale -- causing millions of fans to wait online for several hours to secure seats to Taylor's first tour in years. Turns out they're the lucky ones.

Far more fans got zippo, and will now have to pay through the nose. Honestly, they'll be the ones singing "Look what you made me do" ... to Ticketmaster!!!

Things got so bad, Ticketmaster announced Thursday the general public on-sale, scheduled for Friday, was canceled "due to extraordinarily high demands on ticketing systems and insufficient remaining ticket inventory to meet that demand."

What's more ... the attorney general in Tennessee announced Wednesday he'll be investigating the ticketing giant for possible antitrust law violations.

Flavor Flav has a few reasons to give Spirit Airlines another shot after flipping out on the air carrier over a missed flight -- he's not only getting his money back, he's getting big-time perks.

A rep for Flavor Flav tells TMZ ... Spirit finished the investigation into FF's angry incident in Las Vegas, and decided to give the rap icon a full refund.

We're also told Spirit is upgrading his frequent flier status to "Gold" ... which is the airline's highest frequent flier tier. That status means Flav will never have to pay for any of the budget airline's add-on charges, like the ones for baggage and seat selection.

TMZ broke the story ... Flav narrowly missed a flight earlier this month in Sin City, and we got video of him flipping out on the gate agent who shut the door in his face.

Flav's camp said he typically waits to board flights after all the other passengers because folks like to take pictures with him and he doesn't want to hold up the boarding process. So, he waited, but the gate agent closed the door, shutting out Flav and 2 others.

FF eventually apologized to all the folks who witnessed his airport rant.

The Swifties are currently raging -- Ticketmaster just canceled the public on-sale for tickets to Taylor Swift's Eras Tour -- just a couple days after a disastrous presale process.

In a statement Thursday, Ticketmaster said, "Due to extraordinarily high demands on ticketing systems and insufficient remaining ticket inventory to meet that demand, tomorrow's public on-sale for Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour has been cancelled."

As you can imagine, Taylor's fans were NOT happy ... one wrote, "They’re saying CANCELLED!!!!! Not postponed. Not rescheduled. CANCELLED. @taylorswift13 better finally address this situation. It’s gone too far."

Another raged, "YOU HAVE BEEN SELLING TICKETS ONLINE FOR YEARS AND ARE A MULTI-BILLION DOLLAR COMPANY AND YOU’RE TELLING ME YOU STILL CAN’T FIGURE OUT HOW TO RUN A FUNCTIONING WEBSITE AND GET TICKETS INTO THE HANDS OF FANS THERE’S SO MANY WHO STILL DON’T HAVE TICKETS"

So ya, Ticketmaster is rightfully taking a lot of heat right now.

As we reported, fans waited hours and shelled out hundreds -- sometimes thousands -- of dollars to get their hands on tickets. While some were lucky, many others weren't, coming up empty despite having a presale code.

On Wednesday, Tennessee's Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti announced he'd investigate Ticketmaster for antitrust violations.

For their part, Ticketmaster said there was a historically unprecedented demand for the tickets.

Aaron Judge's 62nd home run ball could be yours -- the record-setting baseball is about to hit the auction block -- after the fan who caught the historic piece of memorabilia turned down a whopping $3 million offer!

The ball will soon be on the block at Goldin Auctions ... one of the most prominent online sports sellers in the world.

As we previously reported, Cory Youmans caught the baseball on October 4th ... while he was seated in the outfield for the Yankees vs. Rangers game in Texas. The Yanks tried to convince the fan to give up the ball that night, but the fan refused to part ways with it.

In the weeks since, Youmans -- who's been living it up -- has received increasingly larger offers for the ball ... culminating in a massive $3 million offer.

Clearly, the fan believes he can make even more at auction ... and he's got company.

“The ball has the potential to become the highest-priced baseball ever sold,” Ken Goldin said, adding ... “Three million plus would be my estimate.”

Of course, Judge set the NY Yankees and American League single-season home run record this season ... topping the 61 HR mark set by former A.L. MVP and Yanks star, Roger Maris, in 1961.

If the baseball is to set the record, it'll need to sell for at least $3,005,001 ... in order to surpass the sale price of Mark McGwire's 70th home run (the slugger played in the National League), which he smashed during his historic 1998 season in which he went toe-to-toe with Sammy Sosa.

Drake was toting a camcorder for weeks leading up to his and 21 Savage's No. 1 album "Her Loss," and now that footage's coming out in their "Rich Flex" music vid -- a party romp featuring various celebs and pro athletes.

The visual lives up to his exorbitant billing -- Drake captured A-1 activities ranging from courtside at a Toronto Raptors game with head coach Nick Nurse and DeMar DeRozan to soaking up Jack Harlow's “Come Home The Kids Miss You Tour" ... where the "First Class" rapper stopped the show to give him a special shout out.

Brooklyn Nets hostage Kevin Durant, comedian Druski, 2 Chainz and plenty of strip club singles help round out the star power for the Drake-shot clip.

Drake also got exclusive footage of Lil Wayne's grill during his surprise set at this year's Weezyana Fest, and Lil Yachty is also spotted in the clip ... having brought the Wock back from Poland.

Drake and 21 might have royally pissed off Megan The Stallion, Serena Williams, Nas and Kodak Black with their album rollout, but their antics paid off in Billboard and streaming numbers.

Their "Her Loss" debut was the biggest for an R&B/hip-hop album in 2022 with 404,000 equivalent album units -- making it Drake's 12th No. 1 album and 21's third.

Andy Warhol is long gone, but his artwork lives on ... and is still selling for INSANE amounts of money!!

Case in point ... the iconic artist created a series of 1963 ink and graphite canvas prints depicting a horrible car accident, which just sold for a WHOPPING $85 million.

You heard it right. Sotheby's in New York put the collage of images dubbed "White Disaster (White Car Crash 19 Times)" on the auction block Wednesday night.

Within minutes, two buyers were throwing out HUGE bids -- $74 million and $85.4 million -- to try to snag the morbid masterpiece. We already know who emerged victorious, but the buyer's name was kept under wraps.

As part of Warhol's "Death and Disaster" series, "White Disaster" depicts a single black and white image of a crashed car 19 times on a 12-foot-tall canvas.

What's even crazier ... in 2013, another Warhol piece from the same series fetched $105 million, setting a record for the pop culture legend, best known for his portraits of Marilyn Monroe.

The house from "A Christmas Story" hit the market this week, and it could end up in the hand of some cast members!!!

Yano Anaya, who played Grover Dill in the 1983 film, tells TMZ ... he and a few other cast members are interested in picking up the property, adding, "It only makes sense to have the cast run the show."

He wouldn't disclose which of his costars are toying with the idea of jumping on board, but he sees it as a major opportunity for fans ... keeping the legacy in-house instead of causing worry over what might happen if the building's bought by someone else.

He tells us there have been tens of thousands of fans who've already expressed concern online in their "A Christmas Story Family" Facebook group. With the new sequel dropping Thursday, it's safe to say there's gonna be a huge wave of people wanting to get a glimpse of the famous pad.

Listing agent Chad Whitmer tells us the current owner bought the Parker's dysfunctional family home in 2004, refurbished it and bought surrounding properties to expand for a museum, gift shop, parking lots and '"The Bumpus House" next door. It became a designated landmark in Cleveland and has welcomed more than a million guests since opening in 2006.

Chad says he's received hundreds of calls, texts and emails from potential buyers since listing the 1.3-acre lot on Monday ... and while there's no public listing price, he expects it to go for 8 figures.

Hopefully, Yano and his castmates will go through with the sale ... we triple-dog dare them!!!

The Houston Astros will have more than just a championship ring to celebrate their World Series win ... the team is also getting custom diamond pendants too!!!

TMZ Sports has learned ... the bling is coming courtesy of Houston rapper Trae Tha Truth and celeb jeweler Iceman Nick -- who were so pumped that the home team got the dub over the Phillies this month, they wanted to get them some drip to show their appreciation.

A total of 60 chains were made by the duo after Houston locked up the Fall Classic ... and most members of the Astros' org. -- including players, coaches, owners and some staff members -- will get them.

The gifts are pretty awesome ... they feature an Astros logo that's encrusted in diamonds. And, we're told each pendant is valued at $5,000!

Some players received the ice at a ceremony on Wednesday -- and the guys were stoked over the new jewelry. Others members of the title squad, we're told, will get them delivered at a later date.

Kanye West released his eleventh studio album "Donda 2" back in February ... sort of, but at least one of the contributors claims he's yet to get a dime for his efforts.

The project never hit digital service providers, and was instead released exclusively on Ye's Stem Player device -- which is currently entangled in a lawsuit with KRS-One's Boogie Down Productions.

Producer ATL Jacob could potentially have a case to sue as well, if the songs actually hit the public radar but not his bank account.

While speaking to VladTV, Jacob revealed he worked on previously touted tracks "Pablo" featuring Future and Travis Scott, "Keep It Burning" with Future again and "Louie Bags" ... which costars Jack Harlow.

Jacob says he gained a lot of production experience throughout his "Donda 2" stint but is still confused to this day about how he's getting paid!!!

According to Jacob, the "Donda 2" album on the Stem Player is full of unfinished demos ... so those who paid $200 didn't really get their money's worth. He also noted how Kanye doesn't actually own the Stem Player ... a point that came up in the court docs for the BDP illegal sample lawsuit.

Jacob produced Future, Drake and Tems' Grammy-nominated No. 1 hit "Wait For U" earlier this year, so he's not lacking accolades or money.

He says he learned a lot in terms of the album creation process and the business side, but still ... an actual paycheck would be nice.

The elusive NBA YoungBoy isn't exactly outside -- due to his legal issues -- but he's peeking his head out into public to pop s**t at his rivals!!!

The Lousiana rapper has been on house arrest since October 2021 and dedicates more focus to the studio than social media these days. He's making an exception, though, to shade a select few artists who sold their music catalogs just to keep up with his bankroll!!! That's how he sees it, anyway.

Making good on his nickname "Never Broke Again," YoungBoy dove into a mini rant while parking his whip ... bragging about owning more cars than one person could ever drive.

Future and Public Enemy's Chuck D are some of the latest rappers to cash in their catalogs ... but one particular rapper YB tends to pick bones with is Kodak Black.

The "Super Gremlin" rapper recently switched to Capitol Records from Atlantic ... and made it clear to his fans he wasn't about to be eating YoungBoy's dust.

Kodak addressed the need to level up on YB in an Instagram Live ahead of the release of his latest album "Kutthroat Bill Vol. 1" -- but will need to kick his studio time into overdrive to truly catch up.

YB has had an extremely prolific year ... releasing 4 solo mixtapes "Colors," "Realer 2," "3800 Degrees," "Ma' I Got a Family" as well as "Better Than You," his collaborative project with DaBaby.

He has another tape scheduled with his artist Quando Rondo, but fans may have to wait until 2023 for that one.

The alarming murder rate in rap these days has hip hop's OGs E-40 and Too Short searching for solutions, and they think social media's a good place to start.

In a new op-ed for The Atlantic, 40 and Short blame the current trend of social media stunting for fueling gun violence in hip hop writing, "Rappers are trying too hard to flex online to the detriment of their safety ... These dudes are getting money at a faster rate than we ever did."

The Bay Area ambassadors are 30-year veterans of hip hop ... dating back to a time before the industry had amassed actual wealth.

Now they feel rap artists are swimming in excess, and wasting their talent and money in places like strip clubs.

The Mt. Westmore duo questions why rappers can spend thousands on their outfits, hop in luxury cars and post wads of money on Instagram with no logical reason for the flex. They note, "With success comes jealousy and anger."

The year 2022 has been a particularly bloody year for hip hop ... with high-profile stars such as JayDaYoungan, PnB Rock, and most recently, Migos rapper Takeoff all being gunned down across the country.

40 and Short are calling for an intervention -- much like Louis Farrakhan did for rappers following the murders of Tupac Shakur and The Notorious B.I.G. in the late 90s.

Tom Brady, Gisele Bündchen and Steph Curry -- plus a host of other huge-name athletes and celebs -- have all been sued following the collapse of FTX ... a popular crypto exchange app that they all endorsed.

The class action lawsuit was filed in a Florida federal court on Tuesday ... just days after users of the FTX platform lost their shirts when the co. suddenly collapsed and filed for bankruptcy.

According to the lawsuit, FTX honcho Sam Bankman-Fried created a fraudulent cryptocurrency scheme "designed to take advantage of unsophisticated investors from across the country."

Attorneys in the lawsuit allege Bankman-Fried enlisted Brady, Bundchen, Curry, Shaquille O'Neal, Udonis Haslem, David Ortiz, Trevor Lawrence, Shohei Ohtani, Naomi Osaka, Larry David and Kevin O'Leary to help him facilitate the plan.

The attorneys pointed to an ad that Brady and Gisele did together back in 2021 ... where the two asked everyone they knew if they'd join them on the FTX platform.

The suit also claims an ad featuring Larry David, which, ironically enough, showed the comedian being skeptical of crypto, also contributed to millions of Americans signing on to do business with the org.

Everything fell apart last week, though -- after the company essentially didn't have enough money to cash users out.

A Denver Broncos special teamer is suing the NFL, the Chargers and a bunch of others ... claiming mats placed on the sidelines at SoFi Stadium earlier this year caused him to suffer a severe knee injury.

Aaron Patrick spelled out his allegations in a new lawsuit, obtained by TMZ Sports, saying that a series of poor decisions by the league and its L.A. team resulted in his ACL tear back on Oct. 17 during the Broncos vs. Chargers' "Monday Night Football" game.

The 25-year-old Denver outside linebacker said in his suit the injury happened in the overtime period of the contest in L.A. ... while he was attempting to make a tackle on a punt return.

Patrick says because of his effort to make the play on the field, his momentum carried him into the sideline area -- where an NFL official who monitors television timeouts was standing. Patrick claims in the suit in an attempt to avoid the man, he had to step on mats that stadium workers had put down to cover up NFL instant replay sideline monitor cords and cables.

Patrick says, as a result, his foot got caught in the mats and the cords -- causing his knee to bend awkwardly. He was later diagnosed with a torn ACL, and is expected to miss the rest of this season.

Patrick is heaping blame on not only the NFL and the Chargers for it all, but also ESPN, the mat company and others -- claiming they all could have done more to prevent the injury from happening.

Patrick claims all parties should have known the mats presented a dangerous hazard for players. He also says the NFL official shouldn't have been standing where he was.

Patrick is suing for unspecified damages, including lost bonuses and future earning potential.

"Player safety should be the foremost of importance to the NFL and its owners," said Patrick's attorney, William M. Berman of Berman & Riedel. "The NFL is a multi-billion-dollar sports enterprise and business, and it needs to do everything possible to protect its players from non-contact game injuries."

Ticketmaster is in shambles over fans trying to snag Taylor Swift tickets -- and the company's message to frustrated customers is ... bear with us!

The singer's Eras concert is all the rage, and it shows after Ticketmaster's site experienced all kinds of issues Tuesday as folks tried to get their hands on presale passes ... which kinda broke their page, leaving tons of would-be buyers in limbo.

Swifties were up in arms, and Ticketmaster heard all the outrage ... because they issued a statement to calm the waters. Right off the bat, they note there's unprecedented demand for tickets and those who are still in the queue to buy should remain there to the end.

TM says they're still pushing through all the orders they have, but it's just taking time ... ensuring anyone in line will get attended to eventually.

Those on the West Coast, however -- who had their own window today to snatch up tickets at 10 AM PT -- were bumped out to later in the day ... 3 PM PT. There's also another sale window through Capital One that's being rescheduled entirely ... for tomorrow at 2 PM.

Rich the Kid is one of the freshest rappers around … and not even a lil thing like a TMZ Hip Hop camera will disrupt his dental hygiene!!!

We got Rich in NYC, outside of the Sirius XM office, as he was brushing his pearly whites in between appointments. RTK was on the move, but still made time to talk about the good times with his good friend, the late Takeoff.

The slain Migos star was laid to rest last Friday and as fans reminisced on social media, a clip of him teaching Rich how to make it rain inside the club resurfaced … much to the amusement of the "Plug Walk" rapper.

Rich tells us Takeoff was telling him "to chill the f**k out" in money-throwing footage because as you can see, the cash wasn't traveling too far!!!

He says Takeoff taught him a lot of things but he didn't want to get into specifics ... with emotions still so raw after his death.

Rich did, however, open up about his newly inked deal with RCA Records, which he claims made him $40 million richer. Huge number, for sure, but Rich tells us it's not about money ... it's more about having the right team behind him and inspiring him these days.

The 8-figures can't hurt, though.

Former MLB superstar Yasiel Puig is facing up to five years in prison ... after he agreed to plead guilty to lying to the feds during their investigation of an illegal gambling ring.

Federal prosecutors announced the plea deal on Monday afternoon ... saying the ex-Dodgers outfielder intends to make a guilty plea to one count of making false statements at a court hearing later this month.

The charge, according to the feds, carries a maximum sentence of five years behind bars.

Puig -- who's now playing baseball in South Korea after seven seasons in the MLB -- had been accused by officials of placing bets through an illegal gambling business beginning back in May 2019.

Officials say in a matter of weeks, he racked up $282,900 in gambling losses -- and then cut two separate $100K checks to the operators of the illegal gambling biz to pay off his debts ... and continue to make bets.

Authorities say following the payments, he went on to make an additional 899 more bets on the sites from July 2019 to September 2019 on tennis, football and basketball games.

According to officials, Puig was ultimately interviewed over it all -- and they say he lied through his teeth ... prompting the federal charge.