Ravens vs. 49ers Super Bowl Ticket Prices Projected To Be Lowest In Three Years

Darren Heitner

The Super Bowl is less than 10 days away, and the streets of New Orleans will soon be full of die-hard fans rooting for the San Francisco 49ers or Baltimore Ravens.  Prior to the AFC and NFC Championships, I suggested that the Super Bowl match-up that would likely have the most people chomping at the bit would be the Ravens vs. 49ers.  With that anticipated match-up now a reality, how difficult will it be for fans of football to see the game live?

Secondary market ticket aggregator, TiqIQ, has provided Forbes.com with ticket price data for the Super Bowl, which is up-to-date as of this morning.  There are currently a little over 4,900 Super Bowl tickets available on the secondary market, with an average ticket price of $3,177.14.  The lowest price to get in to the Mercedes-Benz Superdome for the Big Game is $1,930.  The average ticket cost is roughly $100 more than immediately after the conclusion of both the AFC and NFC Championship games, but the lowest get-in price is only $40 greater than it was roughly five days ago.

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While the 2013 Super Bowl between the Ravens and 49ers is currently showing high prices on the secondary market, it is actually shaping up to be lower than the average cost to attend a Super Bowl in the past two years.  The high cost of entry to the 2011 battle between the Green Bay Packers and Pittsburgh Steelers is unlikely to be challenged, with a final average secondary market ticket price of $3,649.91 and lowest get-in price of $2,260.  There is a big gap between that 2011 game and the 2012 fight between the New York Giants and the New England Patriots (final average price of $2,955.56), and a gigantic difference from the lowest average price in the past five Super Bowls – the 2009 event that featured the Arizona Cardinals and the Pittsburgh Steelers (final average price of $2,097.22).

Projections indicate that this year’s Super Bowl will likely dip below the average ticket price of 2012, making it the cheapest ticket since the 2010 Indianapolis Colts vs. New Orleans Saints match-up.  TipIQ has informed Forbes.com that while the game between the New York Giants and New England Patriots ended up with an average price of $2,955.56, the average price last season on this date was $4,001.02.  Thus, fans who are willing to take a calculated risk based on the extreme drop in price between today’s date and the Super Bowl last year and believe it may be a continuing trend with this year’s game, may be wise to wait for the average price to drop as the Super Bowl approaches.

It seems that this year’s Super Bowl is not going to rise much more in price, if at all.  The main question is whether the price will plummet the week of the Super Bowl (much like 2012), giving fans the opportunity for some good deals.  With travel costs significant for both team’s fans, it is plausible that the Ravens/49ers Super Bowl could produce lowest cost tickets in the $1,000-$1,500 range as the game approaches.  It may be well worth the wait.

Darren Heitner is a Partner at Wolfe Law Miami, P.A. in Miami, Florida, Founder of Sports Agent Blog, and Adjunct Professor of Sport Agency Management at Indiana University. Follow him at @DarrenHeitner and learn more about him at http://www.darrenheitner.com.