Good Question
By Jeff Wagner
/ CBS Minnesota
Good Question: What goes into the cost of a Super Bowl ticket?
MINNEAPOLIS —The hottest ticket in sports is forcing fans to shell out a couple of mortgage payments just to get in the door.
The cheapest ticket to get into Super Bowl LVIII is about $5,300 as of Feb. 5 on StubHub.com. The average selling price on the website is around $9,300.
What goes into the price of a Super Bowl ticket? And how does the average fan get their hands on one? Good Question.
The Super Bowl isn't just the biggest sporting event of the year, it's a massive money-making marketing spectacle, and to see it in person costs a pretty penny.
"I think it's way too expensive for me," said Shannon Martin of St. Paul.
Last week, the average price for a ticket for this year's Super Bowl was $10,408 according to Logitix, a ticketing and technology company. It's a sizable jump from the previous year when the matchup between the Eagles and Chiefs pulled an average price of $7,672 per ticket. In 2018, when Minneapolis hosted the Super Bowl between the Eagles and Patriots, the average price as "only" $5,255.
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"It's the Super Bowl of tickets," Mike Nowakowski said jokingly, but also literally. He co-owns Ticket King in Minneapolis.
What goes into the price of a Super Bowl ticket?
"I would say the biggest factor is the teams, the two teams that are in it," he said.
It starts with where the teams are located. Larger market teams, like those in New York, Boston and Los Angeles can drive up the price. So too can a team with a nationwide fanbase like the Dallas Cowboys.
How often a team has been in the Super Bowl, especially in recent years, can impact the price. Kansas City Chiefs fans might not be as determined to go this year since the team has been to the Super Bowl three other times since 2020. However, Minnesota Vikings fans could drive up demand if their team made it to the championship game.
"There's a novelty aspect if a team hasn't been in it for a long time," said Nowakowski.
Minnesotans might be proud of their state, but February in the Bold North isn't the most welcoming football destination. In 2018, temperatures hovered in the single digits in the days leading up to the big game while wind chills dipped below zero when fans left U.S. Bank Stadium.
"It was cold they should've given (fans) a discount," said Martin.
This year's host, Las Vegas, is the opposite of Minnesota's climate and atmosphere.
"If you could put a Super Bowl in one city in the world that would drive prices up, it would be Las Vegas. The gambling, the party scene, it just has Super Bowl written all over it," said Nowakowski of the tourist hotspot.
"I've heard the bulk of the tickets are to the corporate side of the world, so they can afford it," said Kevin Summer of Prescott, Wisconsin.
Nowakowski said there's merit to Summer's statement, adding, "The economy definitely has an effect (on prices). If the economy's terrible, if corporations aren't making money, they're less likely to entertain clients, send them to the Super Bowl."
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Corporate hob-knobbing aside, finding a "fair" price to get into the game is tough. Nowakowksi said the least expensive face-value tickets sold directly by the NFL were about $2,000. And that price is after fans, including season ticket holders, win the opportunity to buy them from a lottery system.
"The average Joe does not have a fighting chance of getting a ticket for face value," he said.
Patience could save fans hundreds, if not thousands of dollars. Super Bowl ticket prices tend to drop as the game gets closer.
- In:
- Super Bowl LVIII
- Super Bowl
