Since I'm tracking it, sharing some SB ticket info for those interested:
- The "Get In Price" (least expensive ticket) has been holding steady at ~$5,800 since Monday.
- The least expensive lower-level ticket has been steady, too, at ~$7k.
- The overall average ticket price is down today from yesterday (~$9,600 to ~$9,450).
- The most expensive single-ticket (~$35,000) is down from ~$41,000 yesterday.
- For sale inventory is up from ~2,500 tickets available to ~2,600 since yesterday.
I'm monitoring TickPick, TicketIQ, On Location (NFL partner), and a local broker, and using the all-in prices (including fees.)
Get-in price is down to $5,400 today and inventory is up to ~2,800, two things that point to this being the "best time to buy" window now opening. But, how long that lasts will remain to be seen. The 6-8 days before the game has been that window the last 5 or so years, and we're at 7 days now.
How the buyer market reacts today and tomorrow will dictate how the rest of this will go. If inventory stays steady, even with the get-in price dropping, that will mean there's still not enough demand at the current prices. The "we're going no matter what the cost" folks are already set with their tickets and the "it needs to be cheaper before I'll consider it" people are still sitting it out, which will mean prices go even lower. But, if those waiting get nervous and decide to buy now, the low priced tickets will go, the inventory will drop, and prices will go back up.
If I had to predict it, I think the price will keep going down for a few more days as demand (even at the current $5,400 get-in) seems to not be as high as expected. Whether that's because of the prices (not just the ticket, but also the cost to travel, which for Philly fans is a long way with flying really the only option, many road tripped to MIN straight through in 15 hours, but PHX is more than double that) or the fact that both teams have been to the SB recently (and won), I'm not sure. But there's three things that I think are at play:
- Demand for KC AFC Championship game tickets was weak this year, by itself and especially compared to the Eagles NFC Championship game. Get-in was ~$200 by game time in KC, but about 4x that in Philly. And inventory was way higher for KC, as well. That points to a little bit of "been there, done that" (5th straight year KC hosted the AFC title game) from the fanbase that might carryover to the SB (3rd appearance in 4 years.)
- 70% of the "cheapest 10 pairs of tickets" at each of the 4 sites I am tracking did not sell in the last 24 hours. Maybe there's more movement on the better seats, but I think there's something to be taken from the fact that the get-in tickets aren't moving as quickly as you would expect a week out. It could be because there are a lot of buyers willing to play the waiting game, but I'm leaning toward it being the overall demand is not what was expected. At least not yet; there could still be a big run on buying coming, but I'm not convinced.
- This is purely anecdotal, but I have user accounts with TickPick, TicketIQ and NFL On Location and I put items in my cart for each and went all the way through checkout (including payment info entry) and stopped at "Complete Order", to see what would happen. This is a good tactic to use on big purchases because most web sites monitor for this and send chase emails with offers like discount codes to get you to complete the purchase. 2 of the 3 reached out pretty quickly, one automated "reminder" to finish buying and the other an email from a sales rep with their mobile number to call with any questions and an offer to look for "discounts and availability" not advertised on the site. This is a high-profile and high-ticket event with a limited timeframe so it's not surprising they want to get people to purchase (or even offer one-on-one support), but if there's also wiggle room or incentives being offered, that could mean there's concern with how sales are trending.