Are you a diehard football fan looking for the best way to land affordable tickets to an NFL game? Each season in the NFL, 32 teams play 16 regular-season games as they try to earn a trip to the Super Bowl!
The NFL has such a short regular season when compared to baseball (164 games) and hockey (82). This can make tickets to NFL games harder to find at a good price. Especially for Super Bowl-bound teams like the Tampa Bay Bucs and Kansas City Chiefs.
Read on to learn five tips for buying NFL tickets at the best price!
1. Wait Until Kickoff Nears
Like other events, NFL ticket prices tend to decrease as you get closer to kickoff. There are exceptions to this rule, so it’s important to watch the market for your game.
One of the reasons that ticket prices tend to decrease as a game gets closer to kickoff may be due to decreased demand for the remaining supply. You should keep in mind that games with a particularly important meaning may increase in price closer to their start time.
If you are willing to be very patient, you may score cheap tickets after kickoff when the game has started. Remaining ticket holders can become desperate to unload their tickets. That’s because they’d rather get something for them than nothing.
2. Be Flexible With Date and Opponent
You can buy more affordable NFL football game tickets by being flexible with the opponent and date of attendance. For example, let’s say you would like to attend a Tampa Bay Buccaneers game at Raymond James Stadium.
The regular season typically begins in September and ends during the first week of January. If you are looking for a Buccaneers ticket at a good price, it will be best for you to avoid rivalry and divisional match-ups and be willing to play a lesser-known opponent.
The opponent your team is playing can also help drive the price for those tickets. For example, if the Bucs are playing a team that has a good traveling fanbase like the Philadelphia Eagles, this can make the price to attend higher because of the demand!
3. Look at Many Legitimate Sources
Don’t be afraid to look at many legitimate sources for NFL tickets and do it often before you settle on your purchase price. One of the worst things you can do is buy tickets after you’ve looked at only a couple of different sources once.
This limited search won’t give you an accurate sense of the market for NFL tickets where you live. Instead, make it a point to look around regularly at many different websites and brokers before you buy these tickets.
While the box office is the best place to buy tickets because you know they are real, there are many other places you look to get the ones you need. Some of these include internet ticket brokers or individual season ticket holders that can’t attend a particular game during the regular season.
As you look around at different prices, you need to ensure you are searching for the same number of tickets and in the same location. Make a list of the date, time, source, and price that you see for your tickets during each search.
When you get a good feel for the supply and demand for these tickets, you can use this to your advantage to find a competitive but fair price.
4. Compare Value, Not Price
What is the difference between ‘value’ and ‘price’ when you are evaluating NFL tickets? Price is the amount of money you pay when you consider all fees charged to secure the tickets to a game. Value is what you receive for the price you pay relative to other alternatives.
It’s not uncommon to pay a higher price for a set of tickets despite better values on the market. For example, you may pay $250 per ticket for a pair of tickets on the 50-yard line. Your other option may be to pay $75 apiece for a pair of tickets at the highest level in the stadium.
The price disparity may stand out to you a lot before you buy one over the other. What if the market for other similar 50-yard line tickets was $280 to $300? And the market for top-level tickets was $80 per ticket?
In this example, you are paying a higher price for the 50-yard line seats than the ones at the highest level. Despite the higher price, the 50-yard line tickets are a better value. That’s because these are cheaper when compared to the price of other similar tickets!
5. Attend Games Earlier in the Season
In your perfect world, the NFL game you attend will be the one where the home team’s quarterback makes a legendary play with time expiring to send his team to a Super Bowl title.
Although being in the crowd for a Super Bowl victory for your team may be your goal, your budget or financial situation may not warrant spending that kind of money. Did you know the average price of a ticket to Super Bowl LIV ranged from $4,220 to $60,000?!
While seeing your team hoist a Lombardi Trophy in person may be on the top of your bucket list, it may not be in the cards for you at the time you are looking to buy tickets.
One of the ways you can see the same team in-person before the Super Bowl at a good price is to go to a game earlier in the season. Your team may be a preseason favorite to go to the Super Bowl which will make tickets more expensive at first.
You could decide to wait to see your team after a loss or the media coverage slows down. This may help you save hundreds of dollars than if you bought tickets when they are the talk of the town.
The Best Tips for Buying NFL Tickets
The best tips for buying NFL tickets will help you see the team you want at a price that won’t break the bank. Before you begin looking for NFL tickets, decide what team or teams you want to see in person and consider how flexible your schedule is for attendance.
If you’ve got a lot of flexibility, look over the full schedule for your team to see which match-ups have the most supply and demand for tickets. Doing your research before making a buying decision will help give you the confidence you are making the right one!
Are you interested in learning more about some of the most prolific NFL teams in league history? Check out our blog section for our post on the 10 best NFL teams in history and how they shined!
