Fans hoping to watch the Cincinnati Bengals and Los Angeles Rams face off in person at the Super Bowl on Feb. 13 may have to call their financial advisers before making the purchase.
As of Monday afternoon, the least expensive seats at SoFi Stadium on NFL Ticket Exchange were around $5,900. That’s not including the fees added at checking, which would make the price of the upper-deck tickets $7,100. The prices are similar on third-party ticket websites such as StubHub. Most of the available seats on StubHub, excluding those in the lower bowl, are $6,000 to $12,500.
The most expensive tickets? VIP seats in the lower bowl at the 50-yard line are almost $47,000 before fees.
If the price of the cheapest tickets holds at around $6,000, it would far exceed the record for a Super Bowl. The least expensive tickets last year were $4,000. Those seats were purchased just days before the game, and the prices could drop again this year.
The average Super Bowl LVI ticket price, according to SeatGeek, is about $10,500 — the highest ever and about $2,000 more than the average price for a ticket to last year’s Super Bowl.
Of course, face value is far lower. According to ticket website Gametime, the face-value tickets for the upper-deck seats at the Super Bowl are usually around $1,000. Rams season ticket holders will be placed in a sweepstakes for the chance to purchase Super Bowl tickets at face value.
The Bengals notified their fans last week that if the team won, the club would hold a lottery to determine which season-ticket holders would have a chance to buy tickets to the big game.
Super Bowl tickets have become massively more expensive in the past decade.
According to data compiled by the Star Tribune in Minnesota in 2018, taking a family to the Super Bowl in the 1990s and early 2000s was similar to what a normal vacation would cost. The average ticket to the Rams-Titans Super Bowl in 2000 was $325. The Redskins-Bills Super Bowl in 1992 cost the average fan $150. The last time the Bengals were in the Super Bowl — 1989 — the average ticket was $100. The first Super Bowl between the Packers and Chiefs in 1967 had an average ticket price of $12.
One of the main reasons tickets to Super Bowl LVI are more expensive is the Los Angeles factor. A significant number of celebrities are expected to attend. SoFi Stadium, right outside of Los Angeles, opened a year and a half ago. This was the first season that fans were allowed into the stadium, which is home to the Rams and Chargers.
It is the second-straight season that one of the teams is playing at its home stadium. Last season, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers became the first team in NFL history to play the Super Bowl at home. The Tom Brady-led Buccaneers defeated the Kansas City Chiefs 31-9 at Raymond James Stadium.
SoFi Stadium, however, hasn’t given much of a home-field advantage to the Los Angeles teams this season.
Ahead of Sunday’s NFC title game between the Rams and 49ers at SoFi Stadium, Vivid Seats projected that 65% of those in attendance would be San Francisco fans. When the two teams faced off at SoFi in the regular season, Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford had to use a silent count, which is typical in loud road venues. His wife, Kelly Stafford, said on “The Morning After” podcast she hosts that it was “crazy” how many more 49ers fans were at the Jan. 9 game.
“I’ve never seen so many of the opposing teams’ fans at a game,” Mrs. Stafford said. “And we came from Detroit, and there were a lot of good traveling teams there, but that was wild.”
Ahead of the team’s first playoff game against Arizona, Mrs. Stafford posted the video of her comments on Instagram with the caption, “My plea. Please don’t sell your tickets to Arizona fans.”
After the Rams upset the Buccaneers in Tampa Bay in the divisional round, Los Angeles coach Sean McVay joined the cause in asking fans to not sell their tickets to 49ers fans.
“Hold on to those tickets, and it’ll be much appreciated,” McVay said.
The fans who listened to McVay got a nice treat with a 20-17 comeback victory over San Francisco, and the ones who pay to go to the Super Bowl in two weeks will see the Rams play in their fifth Super Bowl against a Bengals team, which is appearing in its first big game since 1989.
