Ticket Demand for Super Bowl XLVIII

In just a few weeks, the Super Bowl will go down at Metlife Stadium in New Jersey. Some of our main takeaways: most expensive SB ever (up 15% from last year), but prices will fall as we get closer to the game, possibly a ton if the weather is bad; suites are going for about double what they usually do ($400K and up this year) because it’s going to be damn cold and people want to be inside; most people shopping for tickets right now are from NY/NJ, and most demand right now is corporate/rich folks who probably aren’t fans of the remaining teams but want to be there for the once-in-a-lifetime experience and have money to burn.

Super Bowl XLVIII Ticket Trends

  • To this point, the average ticket price for Super Bowl XLVIII is $3,851. This time last year, Super Bowl XLVII tickets were going for $3,360 each on average; in other words, the mean is up 15% this year over last. On Jan. 3, 2012, Super Bowl XLVI had gone for $3,328 per ticket on the secondary market, and three years ago today, the average ticket price for Super Bowl XLV was $3,151.
  • Super Bowl ticket prices tend to decline as the game approaches, particularly in the final week before the game. Last year, for example, Super Bowl tickets went for an average of $2,930 each the day after the conference championship games. Less than two weeks later and only days before the game, the average ticket price had fallen 38% to $1,814.
  • This year, bad weather could cause an even more dramatic crash in prices in the final few days before the game. We’ve already seen this season that snowy and/or brutally cold conditions can decimate a playoff ticket market, as was the case for the Packers’ wild card game against the 49ers (the get-in price for that game dropped almost 80% in the matter of a few days from about $140 to $30 per ticket). There won’t be $30 Super Bowl tickets to be had, of course, but the same principal will apply.
  • Upper-level tickets at MetLife Stadium have gone for an average of $2,859 each so far, while seats in the lower level are going for $4,501 apiece. Club seats are considerably more expensive at an average price of $6,780 per ticket.
  • The cheapest tickets available right now are listed at $2,254 each in the upper level behind the end zone, while there are some suites listed for as much as $980,000. Suites are going for much higher premiums this year (the least expensive are still upward of $400K as opposed to $225K in previous years) because of the heightened benefit of being protected from the elements at a cold-weather Super Bowl.
  • So far, New York and New Jersey account for most of the shopping being done for Super Bowl tickets. A third of the traffic to our Super Bowl event page has come from those two states, while another 10% has come from California (49ers fans) with the rest scattered across the country.