Secondary Market Sees Slight Jump In Interest For SB Tickets

Super Bowl Ticket Pricing Remains Well Behind Games Played In '06-08

Secondary ticket activity for Sunday's Super Bowl XLIV is showing some slight recovery compared to last year's game, played in the depths of the global economic recession, but pricing remains well behind games played in '06-08. StubHub is reporting an average ticket sale price for the game of $2,575, 4.6% above last year at the same point prior to the game, but still behind the prior three Super Bowls that each saw average resales surpass $3,000 per seat. Ticket metasearch engine FanSnap.com, meanwhile, showed more than 2,100 tickets available for sale as of last night, less than half the number listed at a comparable point prior to Super Bowl XLIII. "Get-in" pricing for less desirable tickets is trending around $1,200-1,400 per seat, very similar to a year ago. And much like many other premier events over the past two years, what has been sacrificed in price by historical measures continues to be made in volume. Sunday's game is already the second-highest grossing event in StubHub history, trailing only Game 6 of the '09 Yankees-Phillies World Series. Sunday's crowd will likely be heavily in favor of New Orleans, as 27% of Super Bowl purchasing on StubHub is coming from Louisiana, more than triple the rate from Indiana. Very similarly, Super Bowl searches on FanSnap from Louisiana are outpacing those from Indiana by a 3-to-1 margin. "The trendlines are all up for this year on this event," said John Wallace, VP/GM for RazorGator Interactive Group's corporate business unit. "We particularly are seeing a ton of volume from the New Orleans area. There's obviously a ton of pent-up demand there" (Eric Fisher, SportsBusiness Journal).

SMALL-MARKET TEAMS NOT HELPING SALES: In Miami, Douglas Hanks reports ticket prices for Sunday's game "have been dropping this week," leaving tickets "at their most affordable levels since the Rams played the Patriots in New Orleans four months after the 2001 terrorist attacks." Brokers blame the "weak demand on the fact that two small-market teams are playing," and with the Colts "making their second trip to a South Florida Super Bowl in 36 months, brokers depend on the New Orleans Saints to drive fan ticket sales this year." However, Hanks notes the "worst seats still cost more than $1,200." Miami-based Tickets of America President & CEO Michael Lipman said that prices for premium seats are "rebounding." Lipman: "The lower-level market has gone through the roof today. We sold some 40-yard-line club seats this morning for $5,200 each" (MIAMI HERALD, 2/5).