Ticket brokers and fans already suspected that the 2014 Super Bowl to be played at MetLife Stadium — home to the New York Jets and Giants — would be a hot ticket.
Now comes word that prices will set a new bar. Al Kelly, CEO of the host committee for the cold-weather New York/New Jersey Super Bowl, said during a press conference this week that ticket prices will exceed all other Super Bowls.
“I expect our ticket prices will probably be the most expensive ticket prices of any Super Bowl that’s been held, but I think that’s a decision that sits with the NFL and it’s a decision that hasn’t been made yet,” he said. Kelly is a former president of American Express.
According to the league, in 1967 when the first Super Bowl was played, face value for the most expensive ticket was $12, and the least expensive was $6. For the 2011 Super Bowl, played in Dallas this past February, face values were 100-times more expensive at $1,200 and $600, respectively.
On the secondary ticket market, the average price for a ticket was $5,376, according to ticket search engine and price forecaster SeatGeek.com.
The New York/New Jersey Super Bowl will be played in February when average temperatures typically hover around the freezing mark of 32 degrees, which will challenge both players and fans.
However, the National Hockey League has successfully marketed and sold out its annual Winter Classic outdoor game in January, so the NFL, which is significantly more popular than the NHL, will have no problem drawing interest.
“Some of our most memorable games were played in unusual weather circumstances,” NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said during the press conference. “Winter and cold are part of football, and snow is also.”
