By Nathan Frandino
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – A perfect storm of factors is fueling sky high prices for Super Bowl tickets as fans clamor to be a part of Sunday’s championship game in Los Angeles.
The Super Bowl is always a hot ticket, but with the Rams playing in their home stadium, die-hard Bengals fans flying in from Cincinnati, and no attendance restrictions for the first time in two years, demand is skyrocketing.
“A lot of factors are making this particular game incredibly unique,” Akshay Khanna, general manager of North America for ticket retailer StubHub, told Reuters.
“But look, at the end of the day, that is just a reflection of supply and demand. There are only so many seats that are available for the Super Bowl. And the demand for a game like this is so astronomically high,” Khanna added.
The “get in” price for a ticket on StubHub dipped just below $4,000 on Wednesday while the average price of tickets sold on the site was around $6,500, eye-watering amounts that left some fans with sticker shock.
“I think that is absurd,” said Paula Thomas, a social worker. “I think that is given the state of our economy, I think that’s absurd for any normal person to be able to pay that.”
The average U.S. salary in 2019 was just shy of $52,000, according to Federal Reserve Economic Data, meaning tickets to the game, not to mention transportation, parking, food and beverages, are largely out of reach for the average American family.
Julio Bermejo, who owns a restaurant in San Francisco, said $2,500 is as much as he would be willing to shell out. “After that, I’ll find a great bar and watch it if I can’t get a ticket. On Sunday morning, if all hell breaks loose, we can always find a good bar and start drinking.”
California buyers are driving the bulk of the sales, with residents accounting for over 50% of new ticket sales on Tuesday.
Although the Rams hope that means they will see plenty of blue and gold at SoFi Stadium on Sunday, quarterback Matthew Stafford wasn’t so sure.
“I hope our fans are out there going crazy, but the Super Bowl is its own beast in terms of ticket sales,” he said during a news conference. “I’ve seen some of those prices online and they’re up there. I understand it is a lot of corporate people buying those and being able to come to the game, but hopefully we have a lot of LA Rams fans cheering for us.”
(Reporting by Nathan Frandino; Additional reporting and writing by Rory Carroll. Editing by Gerry Doyle)
