The Detroit Lions will host rival Green Bay Packers on Thanksgiving Day, November 24 — a match-up spurring strong sales on the secondary market.
The Lions announced Wednesday, November 16, that the Thanksgiving Day game had sold out. The sell-out announcement included 1,500 standing-room-only tickets that went on sale earlier that day for $50 apiece and were snapped up in less than 30 minutes.
“This year’s Thanksgiving will be the most expensive ticket to a Lions home game in at least the past three seasons,” Will Flaherty, SeatGeek’s director of communications, told TicketNews.
The average secondary market price for this year’s game is $183, up more than 41 percent from last year’s average price of $129 for the Lions’ homegame against the New England Patriots. In 2009, the average secondary ticket price was $81.
“Demand has been great for this game,” TicketCity owner Randy Cohen told TicketNews. “We have exceeded our expectations in sales.”
Tickets for the Thanksgiving game have been selling quickly across the marketplace. As of today, November 18, ticket search engine FanSnap.com lists more than 11,000 game tickets for sale, down from more than 15,000 tickets listed last week, according to company CEO Mike Janes.
eSeats CEO Bob Bernstein has seen similar success with the Lions’ Thanksgiving Day tickets. “Sales for this year’s Packers/Lions game on the 24th are up about 20 percent over last year’s game,” he told TicketNews.
Even those standing-room-only tickets have commanded top dollar on the secondary market. By mid-afternoon on Wednesday, standing-room tickets were averaging $100 each, according to Flaherty. Meanwhile, Cohen noted that TicketCity had sold some SRO tickets for as much as $125 apiece.
With Detroit at 6-3 for the first time in years, secondary ticket sales have been solid for the entire season so far.
“Secondary market prices for game tickets rose quickly with the Lion’s early success and are now averaging $316 [per game], after peaking at $339 on October 21,” Janes said.
