Shutterstock
Annually, the Super Bowl is one of the most viewed games in America as 103.4 million people tuned in to watch the Philadelphia Eagles knock off the New England Patriots for their first-ever Vince Lombardi Trophy last season. Super Bowl 52 was the least watched Super Bowl in almost a decade and it was down from Super Bowl 51, when 111.3 million people watched the Patriots’ historic comeback against the Atlanta Falcons.
The Patriots’ return to the Super Bowl has not helped with ticket prices as they have dropped dramatically over the past couple of days. As of January 24, 2019, the cheapest Super Bowl 53 ticket on StubHub was $2,413, down about $1,000 from Monday.
Ticketmaster has experienced a similar issue with their lowest ticket being almost $1,000 cheaper on January 24, 2019 than on Monday.
The reason for the steep drop in prices is the two teams playing in the Super Bowl as the Patriots-Rams Super Bowl rematch was the NFL’s worst-case scenario in terms of selling tickets. The Patriots have been to five of the last eight Super Bowls and fans are tired of spending an exorbitant amount of money on tickets, flights and hotels. The consistency of appearances in the Super Bowl has made attending the Super Bowl less of a priority for Patriots’ fan as the chances of the Patriots making the Super Bowl again is very likely under Bill Belichick.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bs8VmNcAyUy/
The Rams have not made the Super Bowl in over 15 years, but they do not yet have the fanbase willing to spend over $10,000 on tickets, hotels and flights. While they have spent most of their time as an NFL franchise in Los Angeles, the Rams were in St. Louis for 21 seasons and the fans there were angry the team decided to move back.
Despite being part of the second largest media market in the country, the Rams have not yet established themselves in LA, making it hard for many fans to want to make the 2,174-mile trek to Atlanta.
The one team that would have prevented the steep decline in prices was the New Orleans Saints, who have a great fan base and New Orleans is less than 500 miles away from Atlanta. Saints’ fans would have experience finding hotels and getting flights into Atlanta because both the Saints and the Falcons are members of the NFC South. The team has not made the Super Bowl in over a decade, so fans would be willing to buy tickets for the game.
The Saints, obviously, lost to the Rams 26-23 in the NFC Conference Championship, due to a controversial non-pass interference call on Nickell Robey-Coleman with 1:45 remaining in the fourth quarter. While Mercedes-Benz Stadium will surely be packed with fans on Super Bowl Sunday, the ticket prices for Super Bowl 53 has dropped dramatically over the past couple of days and will continue to drop until Super Bowl Sunday.
