Looking for a ticket to Super Bowl LIII at Mercedes-Benz Stadium?
It’ll currently cost you thousands of dollars on the secondary market.
A check of six ticket resale sites heading into the start of the NFL playoffs this weekend showed prices for the Super Bowl on Feb. 3 starting at slightly above $3,000 for an upper-level end-zone seat and rising from there for other seat locations.
Brett Goldberg, co-CEO of secondary ticket marketplace TickPick, said Thursday that the average price for Super Bowl tickets on his site was $7,166 with a low (or “get-in”) price of about $3,300.
He said the average price has fluctuated from $6,900 to $7,815 over the past couple of months.
Resale prices will continue to change based on supply and demand, and the eventual matchup will help drive whether prices go up or down as the big game draws nearer.
TickPick data provided by Goldberg shows that the average Super Bowl resale price declined in the week after the teams were determined in eight of the past nine years, albeit only slightly in some cases. The exception was the 2015 Super Bowl in Glendale, Ariz., between Seattle and New England. The average resale price for that matchup soared to almost $12,000 by game day.
“But for the most part, prices typically tend to go down toward the event,” Goldberg said in a phone interview. “So if we’re at $3,300 for a get-in (price) now, without knowing who the teams are, my guess is it goes down to the $2,500 type of level for get-in.”
For last season’s Super Bowl in Minneapolis, secondary-market prices dropped sharply when the Vikings, who were seeking to become the first team to play in the Super Bowl in its home stadium, were blown out by Philadelphia in the NFC Championship game. But prices then stabilized on strong demand from Eagles fans, Goldberg said.
With the Falcons not in the playoffs, Goldberg thinks demand for Super Bowl tickets in Atlanta -- and thus secondary-market prices -- will be highest if the Saints, Eagles or Cowboys reach the game as NFC champion.
“The fact Saints fans can drive to Atlanta and not need to pay for airfare allows your more average fan to say, ‘OK, I’ll pay $3,000 or more for a ticket,’” he said. “That’s why I think New Orleans could (produce) a potentially bigger price pop than anyone else.”
Face value of Super Bowl tickets ranged from $950 to $5,000 last season. But because the NFL doesn't offer an open-to-the-general-public sale of Super Bowl tickets at face value, the secondary market is the most viable -- albeit costlier -- option for obtaining tickets for many fans. Another pricey possibility is to purchase hospitality packages, which include game tickets, access to pregame parties and other perks, from On Location Experiences, the NFL's official hospitality partner.
The NFL controls Super Bowl tickets and has allocated the inventory this way in the past: 17.5 percent to each of the participating teams, 5 percent to the host team, 1.2 percent to each of the other 29 teams and 25.2 percent to the league office (with many of the latter being sold to NFL sponsors and partners).
Goldberg estimated that “probably 20,000” Super Bowl tickets eventually will find their way to the secondary market for resale.
SUPER BOWL BRIEFS
> The Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl on Dec. 29 was the last public event to be held at Mercedes-Benz Stadium until the Super Bowl. Preparations in and around the stadium for the big game will be made throughout this month.
> Entering the playoffs, the Saints and Kansas City Chiefs are the favorites to meet in Atlanta. The Saints are the favorite to win the NFC at 11/10 odds, and the Chiefs are the AFC favorite at 7/4 odds, according to Vegas Insider.
> Tickets remain on sale at Ticketmaster.com for Super Bowl Experience, the football theme park to be staged inside the Georgia World Congress Center from Jan. 26-Feb. 2, and Super Bowl Opening Night, the event formerly known as media day to be held in State Farm Arena on Jan. 28.
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