Attending a Super Bowl as a fan will cost you thousands — there’s no getting around it. But if your team makes the big game and you just have to go, is the ultimate sports adventure economically possible?
The easy answer: It depends. If your team doesn’t have an enormous following or national relevancy, if the host stadium seats more than average and if the location isn’t too far away … yes, it can be done.
Take Seattle resident Kevin Dillane, for example. He’s a Seahawks fan who has lived in the Northwest for six years but grew up in Connecticut, and is allegiance to the Patriots remains intact. Needless to say, there was no way he wasn’t going to this game.
“At the beginning of this season, I decided if it came down to a Pats-Seahawks Super Bowl, I was 100 percent in,” Dillane told Sporting News. “When it did come down to a Pats-Seahawks game, the decision was really made for me. Pretty amazing to have an opportunity to see my two teams make it to the Super Bowl.”
Dillane then did exactly what he should have done; what you must do if/when your squad wins a conference title game: Immediately (stress on the word immediately) get to a computer and purchase tickets.
“Checked my email to see if I won the lottery,” Dillane joked when asked about his first step. “Then I went online to PrimeSports to get my tickets. The seats are about as good as my season tickets, so, they’re okay.”
Beggars can’t be choosers when it comes to Super Bowl seating, unless you’re willing to drop five digits. The lowest price for a single ticket on StubHub the Monday after conference championships was $2,203, and who wants a single? That low price jumped to over $2,600 by Wednesday, and keep in mind – that’s the worst seat in the house.
Other secondary market sites like Ticketnetwork, Vivid Seats, SeatGeek and SBTickets.com offered similar options, with none noticeably cheapest.
Why get tickets as early as possible? As of Friday before Super Sunday, only six tickets on StubHub cost less than $11,000 each. If you think that’s insane, it is. Super Bowl XLIX by multiple measures will be the most expensive secondary market ticket in American sports history. Those mentioned sites this year are even having to renege on sold tickets due to cost and availability issues, according to ESPN.
With a listed capacity of 63,400, University of Phoenix Stadium is the smallest host venue over the last six seasons, leaving about 10,000 fewer tickets available than last year’s Super Bowl. On top of that, the Patriots and Seahawks are two very popular, polarizing and talented teams, and many expect a fantastic contest. That all makes for one tough ticket.
“The cost of this trip is equivalent to going to Europe … it ridiculous,” Dillane said. “The ticket cost $3,005. Although, looking through ticket prices this week, it looks like $3k might have been a steal. Really happy I didn’t wait.”
Oh, by the way, we still have not mentioned travel and lodging.
As pricey as tickets are, they’re actually quite available and easy to purchase. Flights and hotels are tougher to find, but the same sooner-than-later rule applies.
Nonstop flights from Seattle to Phoenix for Super Bowl weekend were sold out before the Seahawks even made it, according to Mynorthwest.com, but one-stop round trips on conference title Sunday were going for as low as $532. That was two full weeks before Super Sunday.
Hotels are another monster, and they’ll always inflate water balloon rates all the way up to hot air balloon status. MyNorthwest found that on the day the Seahawks made the Super Bowl, one night at a Comfort Inn just south of downtown Phoenix was going for $450 a night, compared to $95 the following weekend.
The better lodging option is to find a hotel in the city’s outskirts and shuttle back and fourth. Area private homes and apartments are typically available for rent, too.
Dillane pulled that part off about as well as he could have.
“Luckily, I had booked a flight in anticipation of a victory,” he said. “Even luckier, my friend’s fiance is from the Phoenix area and we are staying with her parents. We should be fairly close to the stadium.”
So if you’re a fan with an average income, your team just won a conference title game and you’re thinking about attending the Super Bowl, it goes like this:
If you’re a Panthers fan (smaller support base, less national appeal), the game is nearby at a larger-than-average venue (let’s say Atlanta), and you know you have a place to stay in the area … go for it! You’ll never have a better opportunity.
But if you’re a Steelers fan (national appeal), the game is far away in a smaller stadium (let’s say Glendale, Ariz.) and you don’t know a soul out west … your money is better spent on wings and beer.
And a car.
