Though Super Bowl XLIX is still 10 days away, ticket prices to the big game in Arizona continue to rise on the secondary market. It's a tradition like no other -- paying huge fees to see two of the NFL's best teams battle it out on mutual grass -- but this year's tickets are projected to exceed the $5,000 average, making 2015's game the most expensive Super Bowl in at least the last six seasons.
According to TiqIQ, the secondary market average price for Super Bowl tickets is now $4,901.08, marking a price increase of 21.3 percent since Monday's average of $4,039.78. Don't expect to get in for much less, either, as the game's cheapest seat starts at $2,548.
Since 2011, no other Super Bowl has come remotely close to averaging at $5,000 per seat on the secondary market. 2012's game between the Patriots and Giants was the most expensive game prior to this year's matchup between the Patriots and Seahawks, owning a secondary average of $4,214.53. That year boasted an unlikely comeback from the Giants, who defeated the Patriots 21-17 at Lucas Oil Stadium.
Fan fatigue hasn't seemed to disrupt the upward trend of Super Bowl ticket prices in the days leading up to the game. Because the Patriots and Seahawks have each played in a recent Super Bowl, there was concern that fans would be uninterested in making the trip to University of Phoenix Stadium this year. That's not been the case a week and a half removed from the game, as prices continue to skyrocket on the secondary market.
There is, perhaps more welcomingly for fans, expectations that ticket prices will start to fall next week as the game gets closer. However, tickets would still be more expensive than last year's game if they were to drop by as much as 30 percent. Super Bowl XLVIII saw an average price of $3,375.88 on the secondary market, making a 30 percent drop in this year's average still $54 higher than last year.
Fans traveling from Washington currently make up the bulk of total Super Bowl ticket transactions on TiqIQ at 25 percent. Local Arizonians follow closely behind at 24 percent while the state of Massachusetts has generated 20 percent of total Super Bowl ticket sales.
Though nearly half of all secondary market transactions have come from hometown states, Seahawks and Patriots fans will see contrasting roundtrip airfare prices, according to priceline.com. Fans traveling from Seattle to Phoenix can find a roundtrip ticket ranging between $182 and $500 while those planning on heading west from Boston see roundtrip airfare priced anywhere between $704 and $1,227.
As ticket quantity continues to fall and demand goes up, fans will either have to pull the trigger soon or risk waiting until the eleventh hour to find a good deal. No matter the case, the average price will likely rise above $5,000 in the coming hours, making this year's game the first Super Bowl since 2010 to do so on the secondary market.