For those who have attended a mega sporting event, they will maintain that any cost is priceless. It is the memories that will last forever. Champagne dreams know no price tag.
For those who attend Super Bowl LVI at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, on Sunday to watch the Los Angeles Rams host the Cincinnati Bengals, the memory will certainly last forever – and possibly longer in the bank account. Much longer.
According to SeatGeek's Super Bowl ticket tracker , the average price for a ticket currently rests at $10,237 (£7,553), just shy of four months of the UK’s average salary. That pretty penny officially brandishes Sunday as the most expensive Super Bowl in NFL history.
For those looking for a reduced section, the cheapest tickets will run fans more than $6,600 (roughly £4,900), a little more than two months the average salary.
Elsewhere, the boujee runners can nab the most expensive seats for close to $75,000 a pop (£55,400), roughly the price for one of those sleek Porsche Macans, or about 20,000 Tesco meal deals, roughly a meal deal every day for the next 55 years. Give or take.
Super Bowl ticket prices have hiked a steep hill since the turn of the century as the State’s most popular sporting event becomes as much a celebrity pageantry and international entertainment bonanza as a sporting match.
But this year’s average price notably wipes the floor with previous years. Last year’s staggering $8,60 price tag for the Tampa-Bay hosted event set a new NFL record, but many considered the spike a one-off due to Covid-19 restrictions severely reducing capacity amidst an increased demand for attendance.
Last week, NFL officials maintained that no constraints will be placed on attendance and the match will be played before a full house at the Ram’s 70,240-seater.
This year, experts have again shifted blame on attendance demand. This year’s showing is no marketing darling. The Bengals have never won a Super Bowl before and are led by a cadre of (until now) little known young guns. The Rams are spearheaded by a former Detroit Lions quarterback infamous for inconsistency.
But Sunday’s competition marks the first time in two seasons that the Super Bowl will be played before a full crowd. Inglewood’s proximity to Los Angeles, the second largest metropolitan city in the United States, also factors into the upshot in cost.
The reasons do not make the prices any less eye-watering, particularly for Bengals fans who have waited 31 long years to see their Midwest, family-run franchise return to a Super Bowl pitch. Then, Super Bowl tickets cost $100 (£73), around £150 with adjusted inflation. Halftime entertainment was provided by an Elvis impersonator, 150 Harley-Davidson motorcycles and a large-scale card trick.
But try convincing Bengals fans that Joe Burrow is not worth silly money.
Super Bowl LVI will kick-off at 11:30pm UK time on 13 February.
