Fans spend big to score Super Bowl tickets
Pricier packages offer access to celebrities, luxury lodging
Dr. Carlos Vital waffled for months before committing to a decision relatively few ever make.
He bought a package of tickets to Super Bowl LI, which will be played in Houston in a matter of weeks. The local physician only once witnessed the part of the event while peering over the bridge of a clarinet as he performed with his high school band at the 1990 New Orleans game.
“I’m a really big football guy, and I wanted to see everything surrounding the Super Bowl and the pomp and circumstance,” he said. “The energy of the crowd, the look, the smell.”
The Super Bowl, one of the most-watched events on TV, is the exclusive territory of a select crowd. About 111.9 million people tuned in to see last year’s game, played in Santa Clara, Calif., according to Nielsen. By comparison, only about 71,100 fans made it into Levi’s Stadium.
The final two teams have yet to be determined this year, but ardent fans are already shelling out for the chance to see the showdown from within NRGStadium. The cheapest seats cost at least $4,000, and the pricier extras — luxury accommodations, parties with celebrity chefs, special access to players and TVstars — can drive the price per person
well into the five-digit territory.
On StubHub, the online ticket exchange, $5,000 will buy a spot in the nosebleeds, and the premium seats cost three times as much. Cameron Papp, the company’s communications manager, said the site so far has received orders for 5 to 10 percent of the tickets it expects to sell, and sales are anticipated to rise sharply during the final games of the playoffs.
“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and people are willing to pay a premium for it,” he said.
As both Texas NFL teams made the playoffs this year, the game’s location held particular appeal for fans throughout the state. So far, Papp said, most orders have come from Texas buyers hoping their teams will make it all the way.
“That’s keeping the market high at this point,” he said.
‘Access of a lifetime’
The NFL allotted a block of tickets to Houston’s Super Bowl Host Committee, which is selling them in packages starting at about $6,000 each. Sallie Sargent, the committee’s president and CEO, said some of the upscale options, priced as high as $16,000, are selling quickly.
“If the Super Bowl is on your bucket list, this is the time to do it,” she said.
Pricey as they are, tickets buy access to only part of the activity on the big day. NFL On Location Experiences, the league’s official hospitality partner, has already sold thousands of packages that offer buyers the chance to meet with former NFL players at the Texans House, the tempo- rary identity for The Grove near Discovery Green. The deal also offers fans to skip the line on game day and party for hours inside the stadium with catered food and top-shelf drinks.
For now, the company has sold out of its most basic package, priced at about $6,000. Premium seats with a three-hour pregame party at NRG Center start at about $11,400, and $12,800 buys the chance to go on the field after the game.
“Very few people have that opportunity, and it’s the access of a lifetime to be down on the Super Bowl field,” said John Collins, On Location’s CEO.
The company will put more tickets on the market once the game lineup is determined.
San Diego-based Blue Chip Hospitality Group has lined up a range of celebrities for groups of fans willing to pay big for a chance to meet them. For $29,500, it’s offering six-ticket packages featuring a pregame party during which chef Guy Fieri will dish up gourmet food, Fox sports reporter Erin Andrews will introduce more than 20 current NFL players and comedian Frank Caliendo will entertain. Accommodations at the Westin Galleria and round-trip transportation to the stadium bump the package price to $42,500.
For fans looking for entertainment even in transit, San Franciscobased Bandago is offering group trips to the stadium in luxury vans outfitted with flat-screen TVs, video games and WiFi. The company this week opened an Austin location, its first in Texas.
A million-dollar deal
For the rest of the Super Bowl experience, a weeklong marathon of concerts, celebrity appearances and events, the cost is much higher. Sports and entertainment agencies like Virginia-based ProVentures have been working to build custom packages for corporate clients and wealthier individuals seeking topof-the-line entertainment.
Some of the best accommodations — five-star hotels, exclusive parties, premium seating — likely would cost roughly $14,000 to $22,000 a person, said Jerry Casselano, the firm’s vice president of corporate hospitality.
“It can obviously go much higher if you want the 50-yard line five rows up,” he said.
Austin-based TicketCity is offering a group package for much more: $1 million will buy private air transportation, dinner at Brennan’s of Houston and other high-end res- taurants, bourbon tastings, spa treatments at the Houstonian Hotel, a chance to meet celebrities at a Rockets game, autographed NFL swag and access to a host of parties, including the one with Fieri and Andrews.
Some fans have figured out how to swing the trip for far less money. Dave Wallenstein, a Massachusetts resident and diehard fan of the New England Patriots, has carefully planned how he’ll make it to the game if his team is playing.
He has access to facevalue tickets through a friend, and he booked a hotel in The Woodlands that allows cancellations in case the team comes up short. If all goes well, he’ll take a cheaper flight into Dallas and drive the rest of the way to Houston.
“It’s just hard to justify spending so much on a ticket,” he said. “It’s really driven by the team, and I think a lot of people think that.”
Vital, who demurred when asked how much he paid, said he bought his tickets through the Super Bowl Host Committee as part of a package offering access to events throughout the week. He’s hoping he gets to see the Texans play, but most of all, he said he’s excited to support the city and attend the game without the clarinet.
“I’ve never had the chance to actually attend and be a spectator,” he said. “It was expensive, but it was worth it.”