The Chiefs and the 49ers are drawing the big bucks.
Football fans are poised to pay quite a bit of money to watch the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers battle it out in this year’s Super Bowl.
The average price of a ticket to the big game is higher than it’s ever been, the Athletic reported on Thursday. On the ticket marketplace TickPick, you’re looking at $9,804—69 percent more expensive than the $5,795 average last year. On StubHub, the average price is a slightly lower $9,300, but that doesn’t include a fulfillment and service fee in the low thousands.
Ticket costs are perhaps being driven up by a few factors. For one, the Super Bowl is being played at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas for the first time. That itself may be increasing demand, as the Raiders had the highest average ticket price in the NFL during the regular season, StubHub spokesperson Adam Budelli told the news outlet. Yet Allegiant is one of the smallest NFL stadiums in the country, with just 65,000 seats.
The Chiefs and the 49ers are also two teams that draw a lot of money when they compete against one another. The prior most expensive Super Bowl was in 2020, when the same duo played each other in Miami. That year, though, the average price was a mere $6,370, according to TickPick.
“While the initial price of that Super Bowl was less expensive, we found that the price remained pretty resilient,” Matt Ferrel, TickPick’s vice president of growth, told the Athletic.
Of course, there’s also a potential Taylor Swift effect. Data doesn’t track the pop star’s influence exactly, but in the past, her appearance at Chiefs game has seemed to increase demand for tickets. In the 24 hours after she attended her first Kansas City game, StubHub saw three times the amount of sales for the team’s next home game, Budelli said.
The high cost of tickets may worry some who feel like it’s harder for hometown fans to snag a seat to the big game. But not to fret: While some of these tickets may be going to businesses who are buying tickets for employees or clients, die-hards are still getting in to see their team (hopefully) take it all the way.
“We do see true fans, people who are looking to see their team ultimately win the championship,” Ferrel said. “It is surprising to hear, but it does still happen at these levels.”
