The 2014 Super Bowl will be played in the new Meadowlands Stadium in New Jersey, the National Football League (NFL) announced today, May 25, and despite it being an outdoor, cold-weather championship game in February, ticket brokers believe it will be a huge winner on the secondary ticket market.
The other two locations in the running for the 2014 game were Tampa Bay and Miami, FL, both of which have hosted multiple Super Bowls, with the greater Miami area hosting a record 10. The NFL has never held an outdoor Super Bowl in a cold-weather city, and team owners who vote on the host city held four rounds of voting before the decision was finalized.
“I think the owners have the faith of us to put on a remarkable show,” said Steve Tisch, chairman and executive vice president of the New York Giants, immediately following the successful vote. Both the Giants and New York Jets teamed up to spearhead the Super Bowl bid, which will be held in stadium they share.
Click here or on the image below to view the NFL Network video of the New York/New Jersey bid.
Regardless of the potential for inclement weather in the Northeast, Tom Patania, President and CEO of New Jersey-based Select A Ticket, told TicketNews he believes tickets to the game will be a hot seller. The league has hosted the game in domed stadiums in Minnesota, Michigan and Indiana in late January or early February, and the owners waived their rules of the host city either having an average temperature above 50 degrees or a roof over the stadium to allow the New York/New Jersey bid. The average temperature for New Jersey in February is about 40 degrees, according to the league.
“For every Super Bowl, with exception of the teams that are in it and the host city, more spectators come from the Tri-State Area than anywhere else in the country. Now that you are delivering it to their backyard will present a once-in-a-lifetime experience,” he said, adding that the weather and uniqueness of the setting will play into the nostalgic nature of the game.
“Look at the media stories on this already, and the game had not even been awarded. I think the way the Giants and Jets marketed this was genius,” Patania added. “With New York/New Jersey being the biggest corporate market in the country, and add to that Wall Street and no travel expenses – just game tickets and parties – this will be a huge event. I know we are gearing up for it.”
Jonathan Radler, owner of New York City-based Americana Tickets, agreed, saying tickets for the game will be “hotter than hot!” The average ticket price for Super Bowl XLIV, which was held this year on February 7 in Miami, was $2,386, according to StubHub, and ticket prices for the 2014 game is expected to exceed that amount.
“This is New York, the biggest media showcase on the planet and where the NFL is headquartered. The teams that will play in the game, and the weather, are almost irrelevant…I can’t help but to imagine a ‘Corridor’ Bowl with the Jets and Giants – that’s like a Subway Series without the commute. This will inevitably go down as the hottest weeklong tailgate in history,” Radler said.
Joellen Ferrer, spokesperson for StubHub, was a bit more cautious about the game, but she said demand for tickets will not be a factor.
“It’s a bit hard to speculate that far into the future, but year after year, the stage is set very appropriately for this crown jewel of sporting events. The participating teams will certainly be a factor, but I don’t expect we will see any decline as a result of the expected cold weather for this event,” she said. “Fans travel far and wide in support of their teams, proximity may come into play with ticket prices, but overall demand will certainly not be in question.”
Christian Anderson, spokesperson for the ticket search engine FanSnap, agreed, adding that the teams will ultimately dictate how high ticket prices will go.
“There are a lot of great football fans in New York / New Jersey, and going to the Super Bowl is on a lot of fans’ bucket lists, so tickets will be in demand regardless of the teams playing in it,” Anderson said. “But, when all is said and done, we expect the primary driver of what kind of seller the Super Bowl is will be the teams playing in the game.”
(Click on the image to view the video)
