The secondary ticket market for Super Bowl XLVII in New Orleans is showing marked softness compared to last year, representing the second straight year of declines in prices for the event. StubHub officials late Thursday said the company's average sales price for the game was $2,456 per ticket, down 11% from a similar point before last year's Giants-Patriots game in Indianapolis, and down 32% from the Packers-Steelers game two years ago at Cowboys Stadium. Ticket sellers and execs see several key factors at play, including the lack of large national fan bases for either the Ravens or 49ers, very expensive round-trip flights to New Orleans from Baltimore and S.F., low inventories of available hotel rooms and a minimal level of engagement by local New Orleans fans. StubHub said just 3% of its Super Bowl purchases thus far have been from Louisiana, compared to 5% from Indiana for last year's game and more than 20% from Texas for the game at Cowboys Stadium. "There's been very little buy-in from the local audience, which is unusual to see," said StubHub Head of Communications Glenn Lehrman. Prices are expected to continue to drop as the game approaches, and the final price may approach $2,000 and challenge the Super Bowl XLIV Saints-Colts matchup as the softest resale market for the game in recent memory. Prices are down despite a less inventory available on the resale market. Ticket metasearch engine FanSnap showed 5,251 Super Bowl tickets for sale earlier Friday, down from 8,277 at a comparable point last year. Ticket search engine SeatGeek shows an average listing price of $2,173, down by 25% since the conference championship games. Ticket aggregator TiqIQ, meanwhile, showed low-end, get-in pricing at $1,289 per ticket, with a strong likelihood of those prices falling below $1,000 by gametime. Face value of Super Bowl tickets range from $850 to $1,250.
