Game No. $5,089

Super Bowl ticket tab down but not out

Less Peyton, lower prices. With only 11 days to go before Super Bowl LI, the average price of a ticket to the NFL championship game is down 8 percent from last year at the same time, statistics released Wednesday by StubHub reveal.

The average price paid for a Super Bowl ticket this year is $5,089.

The decline is tied to the fact that last year’s fans were supercharged to see Denver Bronco quarterback Peyton Manning, who was going to be playing what many expected would be his last game.

Indeed, Manning retired shortly after guiding the Broncos to victory.

Last year’s interest in super Bowl tickets was also amped up because it was the 50th anniversary of the game and it was in the San Francisco Bay area, accord- ing to StubHub’s communications manager, Cameron Papp.

This year’s game is being played in Houston.

To be sure, interest in game tickets is growing — especially in the home re- gions of the Atlanta Falcons and New England Patriots, this year’s contestants.

Ticket purchases by Georgians, whose Falcons are seeking their first NFL championship, have spiked 1,571 percent since last week, according StubHub.

Purchases by Massachusetts fans were up 1,501 percent over the same period.

“We usually see a pop in purchases from each contending state between Monday and Wednesday — right after the playoffs,” said Papp.

StubHub also expected a slight decline in ticket prices because of a drop in demand from Patriots fans — who may be suffering from Super Bowl fatigue, Papp said.

Patriots head coach Bill Belichick and quarterback Tom Brady are chasing their fifth Super Bowl title.

Eventually, last year’s ticket prices eased a bit as the game approached. The overall average price was $4,512, Papp said.

So, if this year’s average price shows less erosion, it could end up higher than last year, Papp noted.