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It’s Not Too Late to Buy Super Bowl Tickets
Super Bowl 50 is just days away, but it might pay to wait a little longer if you want to score the best deal on a ticket to the big game.
Of course, a “deal” is relative. The average list price of a ticket to the Carolina Panthers-Denver Broncos game is $5,737, according to ticket broker TiqIQ. The cheapest seats for the February 7 game being played at Levi’s Stadium (shown above) in Santa Clara, California, are $3,300.
But if historical trends hold up, prices will fall. Typically, prices drop 10 percent to 30 percent in the last two weeks before kickoff as ticket sellers get nervous about being stuck with tickets, “It’s a perishable inventory,” says Jesse Lawrence, CEO TiqIQ.
Cam and Peyton Are a Hot Ticket
The price drop is expected to be on the moderate side this year because demand is strong. Lawrence projects about a 15 percent decline from current prices, pushing the cheapest seats down to about $2,400.
Demand to buy Super Bowl tickets is high for a few reasons:
- Location. It’s a short flight to San Francisco for Broncos fans who want to see what might be star quarterback Peyton Manning’s last game. So far, nearly one third of Super Bowl 50 ticket buyers are coming from Colorado, while about 20 percent of ticket buyers are from North Carolina. The bulk of ticket buyers—41 percent—are from the San Francisco area. There’s also strong local interest in the game and plenty of money to buy tickets from Silicon Valley bigwigs and corporations who want to wine and dine clients.
- The golden factor. It’s the 50th Super Bowl, and the NFL is hosting a week of special events beyond the usual Super Bowl hoopla to celebrate the golden event.
- Drama. The matchup between veteran Manning and the Panthers’ Cam Newton makes for a compelling story. At 39, Manning is the oldest quarterback to take his team to the Super Bow. For Newton, the Super Bowl is an opportunity to cement his image as the new face of the NFL.
When and Where to Buy
One factor could may dampen demand among those who want to buy Super Bowl tickets: The San Francisco area is pricey. Airlines and hotels make up as much as 50 percent of expenses. Fares and hotels are at a premium in an already expensive city to visit. The cheapest round-trip flights to San Francisco from Denver are $339 and from Charlotte $507, according to Priceline. The total price for a ticket to the game, round-trip flight, and three nights at a hotel is about is $4,476 from Denver and $4,644 from Charlotte.
If you are planning to buy Super Bowl tickets, you’ll have to buy from secondary sellers such as TiqIQ, StubHub, RazorGator, SeatGeek, or The Ticket Network, which is part of TicketMaster. Very few tickets were sold to the public. The NFL allocates most of the tickets to the participating teams; other teams are entitled to a smaller share. Another portion of the tickets is given out to event sponsors, the media, and ticket brokers, with most ending up on the secondary market.
It’s small consolation, but tickets are a bargain compared to last year when the New England Patriots played the Seattle Seahawks in Arizona. The average ticket for the 2015 game cost $9,722, and the cheapest was $8,764.
That was an anomaly and blamed on a few big-ticket sellers who held back inventory to drive prices up, says Lawrence. TiqIQ and other secondary sellers say they have changed their policies to reduce speculative selling and have limited the number of authorized brokers. So far, that seems to be working and prices are already trending down.
Lawrence’s advice: Know what you are willing to pay, monitor prices several times a day and be ready to pull the trigger.
If prices don’t come down to the level you want to pay? Well, you could always put the money toward a new TV to watch the game.
Consumer Reports has no relationship with any advertisers on this website. Copyright © 2006-2016 Consumers Union of U.S.
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