The big top is crumbling down: Final Ringling Bros. show at Nassau Coliseum sells out

Tickets are going for as much as $2,000 on the secondary market

Published January 18, 2017 5:50PM (EST)

FILE - In this May 1, 2016 file photo, Asian elephants perform for the final time in the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus in Providence, R.I. The Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus will end "The Greatest Show on Earth" in May 2017, following a 146-year run. Declining attendance combined with high operating costs, along with changing public tastes and prolonged battles with animal rights groups all contributed to its demise. () (AP Photo/Bill Sikes, File)
FILE - In this May 1, 2016 file photo, Asian elephants perform for the final time in the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus in Providence, R.I. The Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus will end "The Greatest Show on Earth" in May 2017, following a 146-year run. Declining attendance combined with high operating costs, along with changing public tastes and prolonged battles with animal rights groups all contributed to its demise. () (AP Photo/Bill Sikes, File)

UNIONDALE, N.Y. — Officials with Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey say the iconic traveling circus' final show at the newly renovated Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum on Long Island is sold out.

An announcement was made last week that the "Greatest Show on Earth" would be shutting down this spring after touring for nearly 150 years.

The circus will be at the arena in Uniondale for 16 performances from May 12-21.

Newsday reports that seats normally going for $23.75 in the venue's upper level and $191.75 in the lower level are priced on the secondary market at $245 and $2,000, respectively, for the circus' last show.

Officials with Feld Entertainment, the producer of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey, say declining ticket sales coupled with high operating costs made the circus an unsustainable business.


By AP Staff

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