Few professional sports teams are so closely identified with one player as the Indianapolis Colts are with quarterback Peyton Manning. Now the team is finding out when that player is injured ticket sales will drop significantly.
Manning, considered one of the best NFL quarterbacks of his generation, had neck surgery last May, from which complications were already going to keep him out Sunday’s season opener against the Houston Texans. And today, the Colts announced that the three-time league MVP had a second neck surgery this year today, September 8, his third overall, which could mean he might miss significantly playing time this season if he plays at all.
The situation puts the Colts season in jeopardy, and means ticket prices on the secondary market will likely begin to spiral downward.
“The worst part about Manning being out is that it not only hurts our position with Colts tickets,” Maryland broker Jeff Greenberg, owner of ASC Ticket, told TicketNews. “The team plays eight road games a year, and we’ll see a significant drop for those games as well.”
Greenberg estimates that prices for Colts tickets will drop by “at least 25 percent” if Manning misses a lot of games.
According to ticket search engine FanSnap, more than 6,100 tickets were available on major ticket broker and ticket exchange Web sites as of today for the team’s first home game, against the Cleveland Browns, and listed prices were starting at $55 each. The least expensive face value ticket for a Colts home game starts at $48.
Indianapolis broker Mike Peduto, owner of Circle City Tickets, told WRTV 6News that if Manning misses the whole season, ticket prices could drop by 50 percent on the resale market.
“This year, we may have some sets we’ve bought that were marginal at the time, and now that we’re selling them individually, we may not make it back. By the end of the year, I don’t know what tickets will be going for,” Peduto said.
Before news of today’s surgery, Colts fans were already worried about their favorite star.
“Without him, it’s a totally different thing,” Derek Browning, a Colts fan, told WTHR-TV.
