Filed under: Sports, Sports & Recreation
By comparison, tickets to last year's Super Bowl were selling for $3,008 this time last year, TiqIQ.com data shows. The next priciest event prior to this was the 2011 college football championship game between Auburn Tigers and the Oregon Ducks at $5,087.
No other event in sports or music or theater has touched the prices now being seen, said TiqIQ Vice President Chris Matcovich. The average asking price for a ticket to Sunday's game between the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks as of Monday afternoon was around $5,700, down from the weekend's peak. An influx of tickets into the market that had been held back by brokers is likely the reason for the slight softening.
Pssst -- Just $18,000
While asking prices are still well above $5,000 on average, the average selling price is just over $4,000. The face value for the tickets are $800 to $1,900. The cheapest tickets now for sale are more than $3,500. The most expensive is about $18,000.
One of the reasons so many tickets end up getting resold is how they are distributed. The two competing teams get 17.5 percent of the tickets; the rest of the league's teams divide 35 percent; the league keeps 25 percent; and the host team gets 5 percent.
So, a lot of tickets are made available to people who are not fans of either team and know they can turn a quick profit by selling the tickets. Plus, they don't have to pay to go to and from Super Bowl XLIX in Arizona.
For tickets the day of the game, here are the average costs of the past few Super Bowls and the cheapest seats available:
- 2010 -- Saints vs. Colts: $2,329.26 ($1,379).
- 2011 -- Packers vs. Steelers: $3,649.41 ($2,260).
- 2012 -- Giants vs. Patriots: $2,955.56 ($1,354).
- 2013 -- Ravens vs. 49ers: $2,199.08 ($1,062).
- 2014 -- Seahawks vs. Broncos: $2,567.00 ($1,514).
