As Sunday’s big game winds closer and closer, one thing has become abundantly clear on the secondary market: Philadelphia Eagles fans are pumped for their team’s first chance at the Lombardi Trophy in over a decade.
According to sales data from secondary marketplace Ticket Club, the Philadelphia market has accounted for over four times the amount of tickets that the New England market has. As of Monday afternoon, fans from Pennsylvania and states that border it – Delaware, New Jersey and Maryland – have made up over 20% of total sales (by number of tickets sold). New England is just shy of 5% of sales – indicating a potential enthusiasm gap for the Patriots’ fan base.
There’s no real mystery to the why on those stats – Philly has notoriously fallen short in each attempt it has made on the NFL’s championship in the Super Bowl era. Its lone Super Bowl appearance came in Super Bowl XXXIX, where New England defeated the Donovan McNabb-led Eagles 24-21. The team captured three NFL Championships, but its last was in 1960, seven years before the first Super Bowl.
Meanwhile, New England has put together one of the most dominant runs in the games history – under coach Bill Belichick and starting QB Tom Brady, the Patriots have captured five Lombardi Trophies, beginning with the dramatic Super Bowl XXVI victory over St. Louis in 2002, which saw Brady drive the team down the field to set up Adam Vinnateri’s game-winning field goal. Last year’s Super Bowl saw a wild comeback victory over the Atlanta Falcons. A win on Sunday would tie the franchise with the Pittsburgh Steelers for the most Super Bowl victories in NFL history.
Ticket prices seem to have stabilized for the contest, rising slightly in the past two days following a fairly steady decline in get-in prices throughout last week. Currently, the minimum per-ticket get-in price stands just shy of $4,000 after delivery and fees. Ticket Club has a pair in Section 308, Row 30 on offer for $7,971.00 – over $400 in savings on the next lowest price among the major marketplaces. StubHub’s get-in after fees is for a pair in Section 335, Row 15 – $8,405.00. Vivid Seats is just shy of $100 past that, with a pair in Section 308, Row 25 priced at $8,491.23 after fees and delivery. A bigger jump of over $500 greets Ticketmaster visitors, where one can get in as low as $8,996.52 for a pair in Section 317, Row 21.
These numbers continue the trend that we’ve seen all week, where Ticket Club has had by far the cheapest Super Bowl LII tickets available, once delivery and fees are accounted for. Members of that marketplace save by avoiding the per-ticket service fees added to each ticket, which adds up pretty quickly on a premium event like the Super Bowl.
Will the prices stay strong at $4,000? The trend had seen the get-in dip to as low as $3,000 over the weekend, but strong sales from hungry Philadelphia fans appear to have – at least for now- flattened the trend. We’ll see what the rest of the week brings.
