2016 has brought with it a number of changes in the NFL, some of them permanent, many of them experimental. The decision to sell Super Bowl tickets on the open market isn’t nearly as controversial as all the rules changes. But it will definitely get people talking, at the very least distracting them from conversations about Super Bowl picks.
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There is still a lot of confusion surrounding the pricing system, primarily because of all the different packages the NFL intends to offer. However, anyone that understands the NFL should expect to spend quite a bit to get their hands on a seat.
Fans looking to benefit from the best seats can expect to spend as much as $5,000, with prices skyrocketing all the way to $14,000 or more in some cases. Hefty as those figures might sound, though, you have to keep in mind all the amenities that the NFL will offer to ticket holders.
Fans with the best seats can look forward to a pregame party and early access to the site of Super Bowl LI. For those people who are willing to break the bank for a ticket passes to be on the field when the game ends are also on offer.
Those people interested in taking advantage of this new NFL offer can access tickets on a Ticketmaster and On Location Experiences website. NFL On Location has access to nearly ten thousand tickets for the upcoming Super Bowl.
This includes tickets that the participating teams will get. Attractive as some of the amenities the NFL will offer to its ticket holders might be, no one is going to ignore the fact that it would be cheaper making one’s ticket purchases from secondary market sites like StubHub.
Then again, it is worth noting that a ticket from StubHub merely promises to give fans seats within specific zones of the stadium. The new tickets, which went on sale on Wednesday, are for exact seats.
Additionally, some of the prices for these tickets could fall depending on the demand at hand.
It is hardly surprising that the NFL chose to create a marketplace like this for its tickets, though. Super Bowl XLIX brought with it a short-selling fiasco that the NFL couldn’t ignore. You had situations where ticket brokers were selling seats they didn’t have (ahead of time and on speculation) with the aim of filling them for the buyers closer to the game when the prices had dropped.
As some people remember, though, prices didn’t drop. Brokers ended up buying tickets for several times what they sold them for to fans. In some cases, they simply told fans that they couldn’t fill their orders.
Fans in the hundreds went to Phoenix only to learn that the tickets they had purchased and were promised hadn’t been delivered. The NFL is taking a gamble with their new scheme. They cannot know whether or not fans will be willing to pay extra to be assured of an exact ticket.
StubHub also provides guarantees, though it guarantees zones rather than seats; either way they are a very cheap option. Only time will tell whether the NFL’s ticketing alternative will bear fruit.
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