Ticket brokers are crossing their fingers for good weather and a Seahawks-Broncos matchup in Super Bowl XLVIII next month.
The Feb. 2 game at MetLife Stadium already commanded the highest face-value price by the NFL in Super Bowl history at $2,600, but of the four remaining teams, brokers and analysts say Seattle-Denver would give it the best chance of also setting the all-time record for median resale price.
The existing average resale record was $3,649.91 for the Packers’ 31-25 victory over the Steelers in Super Bowl XLV in Arlington, Texas, and it remains unclear if this year’s game will be able to top that.
Brokers will be watching closely this weekend when the Seahawks host the 49ers in the NFC Championship and Peyton Manning’s Broncos host Tom Brady’s Patriots in the AFC Championship.
“Denver and Seattle have two very excited fan-bases, and those are fan-bases that are used to watching games in bad weather and are prepared for it,” said Jason Berger, CEO of New York-based All Shows LLC. “Those two teams making it would be great for interest.”
Either the 49ers or the Patriots — or both — making it would probably push prices down on the secondary market, in part because San Francisco was just in the Super Bowl in New Orleans last year and New England would be appearing in its third Super Bowl since the 2007 season.
The Patriots being so close to the game’s site in East Rutherford would counteract that “Super Bowl fatigue” factor somewhat, but brokers would rather the Broncos make it instead so they don’t have to worry about that, Berger said.
“That matchup, of Peyton versus the Seahawks, would really drive the demand up,” Berger said. “When the Patriots made it just a couple of years ago [in 2011, when they lost to the Giants in Indianapolis], the demand from their fans just wasn’t that great, to be honest.”
According to TiqIQ, which aggregates secondary-market sellers, the current average asked-for resale price for this year’s game is $3,430.02. The lowest asking price was $2,400 on eBay for an upper end-zone seat, while the lowest asking price for the mezzanine was $3,160 and for the lower level $3,314.
The most expensive asking price overall? That would be $20,900 for a seat in the lower club level.
That’s in stark contrast to last year’s 49ers-Ravens Super Bowl in the Superdome, which resulted in an average resale price of $2,199.08, with the cheapest ticket going for $1,062.
Of course, a Seahawks-Broncos matchup wouldn’t necessarily solve all the brokers’ worries. There is still the lingering issue of the weather, which will be watched closer than anything else about the game in the days leading up to it.
Three of the four weather Accuweather forecasters on the website willitsnow.com predicted Tuesday it will snow the day of the game.
“Weather is going to play a pretty big factor as to whether the corporate people in New York are going to come out and sit in the seats,” said Chris Matcovich, spokesman for TiqIQ.
The potential for bad weather and the game’s proximity to the seemingly endless pockets on Wall Street are driving interest in the resale suite market to new extremes, analysts said.
Because of sponsorship and league commitments, there are expected to be fewer than 25 suites at MetLife seating between 24-30 people available for resale.
That explains why the cheapest current asking price on the secondary market for one of those suites is $452,000, with the highest being listed at a dizzying $980,000.
At least one analyst is predicting a suite sellout, even at those sky-high asking prices.
“They’re not going to have a problem selling out the suites, simply because of the weather and the fact that the New York corporate base has a lot of money,” TiqIQ’s Matcovich said.
For the average fan who doesn’t have $20,000 or more just sitting around to drop on a football game, Matcovich suggests patience is in order.
“For the consumer, the best idea is to shut out the hype, wait until close to game time and see if you can steal a deal,” he said. “That’s always the best philosophy.”