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A: When we’re talking about the most expensive NFL games of 2023.
Q: When is “cheap” anything but cheap?
Owing to the nature of the secondary ticket market, NFL ticket prices are subject to extreme cost variations.
Unlike fixed face value costs, resale prices are determined by ever-fluctuating supply & demand. This results in inordinate highs and very low lows.
To wit:
| Price | Average | Highest | Lowest | Avg. Deviation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Face value (2022) | $112 | $153 (+37%) | $85 (-24%) | 13.3 |
| Resale (2023 cheapest available) | $169 | $402 (+138%) | $76 (-55%) | 69.6 |
To reiterate, the above figures are averages for the course of the regular season, which should prepare you for single-game deviations.
Even still, the numbers are eye-popping for…
The 10 most expensive NFL games of 2023
| Median Price | Home Team | Opponent | Week # | Lowest Price | Highest Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $619.43 | Las Vegas | Pittsburgh | 3 | $547.00 | $695.60 |
| $551.00 | Philadelphia | San Francisco | 13 | $515.95 | $687.75 |
| $548.00 | Dallas | Philadelphia | 14 | $504.00 | $660.24 |
| $546.84 | Philadelphia | Dallas | 9 | $500.00 | $644.00 |
| $525.25 | San Francisco | Dallas | 5 | $467.84 | $606.00 |
| $513.22 | Kansas City | Philadelphia | 11 | $456.00 | $603.90 |
| $489.00 | Las Vegas | Green Bay | 5 | $469.00 | $569.00 |
| $486.00 | Philadelphia | Buffalo | 12 | $454.61 | $563.30 |
| $456.00 | New England | Philadelphia | 1 | $433.47 | $527.00 |
| $446.95 | Dallas | Detroit | 17 | $414.00 | $521.38 |
Markedly, these are not the overall averages for game tickets. They are in fact the median prices for the cheapest available seats.
That’s right. If you wanted to attend the Steelers-Raiders game back in Week 3, it would have cost you 620 bucks to sit in the 400-level.
To put that number in perspective,
- It’s more than the average price for a ticket to Super Bowl XXXIX ($600¹),
- And about the same as the 2022 FCI for the Denver Broncos ($622²), or more than 21 other teams that year.
¹ Super Bowl Ticket Prices the Year You Were Born (cheapism.com)
Now on the other extreme, you have the…
5 least expensive NFL games of 2023
| Median Price | Visiting Team | Home Team | Week No. | Highest Price | Lowest Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $16.00 | Atlanta | Carolina | 15 | $22.00 | $12.00 |
| $16.50 | Tampa Bay | Carolina | 18 | $22.00 | $15.00 |
| $18.00 | Seattle | Arizona | 18 | $24.00 | $15.00 |
| $25.90 | Atlanta | Arizona | 10 | $31.00 | $21.00 |
| $27.20 | Baltimore | Arizona | 8 | $36.00 | $15.00 |
Notably, less than a handful of teams dominate both lists.
Indeed, the Philadelphia Eagles were involved in 6 of the 10 most expensive games – 3 times each as the visiting team and as the host.
Additionally, you have the Cowboys (4x), the 49ers (2), and the Raiders (2). From the least expensive list, you have the Cardinals (3x), Panthers (2), and Falcons (2).
With this in mind, I started to wonder what – aside from team success & popularity – other factors could influence secondary market prices for individual games.
NFL Ticket Pricing: What Influences the Cost
In order to do that, I put together a list of median (cheapest available) ticket prices by road team. Moreover, I included potentially correlative data such as win total, road attendance rank, & home game price rank:
| Team | Median Price | Home Price Rank | Road Attendance Rank | Wins |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arizona | $115.65 | 29 | 26 | 4 |
| Atlanta | $78.92 | 30 | 19 | 7 |
| Baltimore | $163.26 | 22 | 29 | 13 |
| Buffalo | $294.66 | 9 | 15 | 11 |
| Carolina | $108.46 | 31 | 32 | 2 |
| Chicago | $142.49 | 10 | 21 | 7 |
| Cincinnati | $170.44 | 15 | 20 | 9 |
| Cleveland | $106.27 | 25 | 10 | 11 |
| Dallas | $295.26 | 5 | 11 | 12 |
| Denver | $185.21 | 16 | 27 | 8 |
| Detroit | $206.37 | 4 | 5 | 12 |
| Green Bay | $273.36 | 13 | 18 | 9 |
| Houston | $72.51 | 24 | 23 | 10 |
| Indianapolis | $63.39 | 27 | 31 | 9 |
| Jacksonville | $80.92 | 26 | 30 | 9 |
| Kansas City | $216.55 | 3 | 8 | 11 |
| LA Chargers | $159.59 | 23 | 9 | 5 |
| LA Rams | $123.36 | 20 | 6 | 10 |
| Las Vegas | $204.23 | 2 | 17 | 8 |
| Miami | $200.82 | 7 | 25 | 11 |
| Minnesota | $191.12 | 14 | 16 | 7 |
| New England | $181.74 | 8 | 1 | 4 |
| New Orleans | $135.08 | 32 | 13 | 9 |
| NY Giants | $177.17 | 18 | 14 | 6 |
| NY Jets | $182.49 | 17 | 4 | 7 |
| Philadelphia | $306.78 | 1 | 2 | 11 |
| Pittsburgh | $260.35 | 12 | 24 | 10 |
| San Francisco | $220.03 | 6 | 22 | 12 |
| Seattle | $128.67 | 11 | 7 | 9 |
| Tampa Bay | $96.42 | 21 | 12 | 9 |
| Tennessee | $82.59 | 28 | 28 | 6 |
| Washington | $139.26 | 19 | 3 | 4 |
Key takeaways
- The strongest correlation to a team’s road ticket prices was in fact their home ticket prices (-.786).
- Won-loss record? A moderate .388.
- Average road attendance held the weakest correlation to price (-.328).
Indeed, of the top 10 teams in terms of highest road price, only 2 ranked outside the top 10 for home ticket price. Unsurprisingly, those 2 teams were Pittsburgh (12) & Green Bay (13), which are notorious for their traveling fan bases.
Given that I’ve talked about how more wins = higher ticket prices, it’s a bit of a surprise that there was a considerably weaker correlation. Still, the fact remains that the teams with the 10 highest road prices averaged 10.7 wins, while the 10 lowest averaged 7.7.
Conclusion
- Secondary market NFL ticket prices are influenced by a variety of factors, and this makes it difficult to anticipate costs.These include, among others, team success, opponent, & time of year. When is The Best Time to Buy NFL Tickets?
- However, for NFL fans that want to avoid cheap seat prices of $400 & up, there are two strong predictors for individual game pricing: Home ticket price and wins. The weighted average for ticket price & wins for all the teams that comprised 10 most expensive NFL games of 2023: $307.52 & 10.55.
- Specifically, there’s 3 teams with fan bases that are known for traveling to road games: Buffalo, Green Bay, & Pittsburgh. The combined average cheapest ticket for their road games was $276.12, or $87.48 more than their home prices.
- Ultimately, the need to find an economical NFL ticket site is paramount when it comes to the high-priced games. Specifically, for the 10 most expensive games, one reseller would have saved you up to $126 per seat, on average. For a family of 4, that’s an astounding 504 bucks!
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