So you want to go to the Super Bowl this weekend. Even for non-football fans, this year’s spectacle of professional sports and state-of-the-art entertainment — in Las Vegas, no less — could be hard to resist.
Some of the best players of their generation, including Nick Bosa, Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce, will take the field when the San Francisco 49ers and Kansas City Chiefs meet on Sunday. Off the field, the city will be filled with celebrities including Usher (the halftime champ), Luke Combs, Adele and the Wu-Tang Clan — and those are just the weekend’s scheduled performers. So many people are expected this weekend, confirmed Monika Bertaki, director of marketing at Harry Reid International Airport, that there are no airplane parking spaces available at Harry Reid, North Las Vegas or Henderson Executive airports. There will be a party.
If you can afford to go, that is. Factoring in the cost of flights, lodging, various travel expenses and admission to Allegiant Stadium, Super Bowl LVIII may be the most expensive to attend.
As of Tuesday, people were paying an average of $8,776 per ticket, according to data from ticket marketplace Vivid Seats, thousands of dollars more than the most recent Super Bowl games. Driving demand are a number of factors, including the possibility of Taylor Swift attending, the stadium being one of the smallest in the National Football League in terms of capacity and Las Vegas hosting its first Super Bowl.
“Prices go up and down for Super Bowls, but they’re going to be historically high for this one,” said Malcolm Robinson, owner of Houston Ticket Brokers, where tickets go for more than $8,000.
For this year’s event, he said, “billionaires will struggle to park their planes.”
Want to join that crowd? Let’s run the numbers.
Let’s say you live in Houston and want to arrive in Las Vegas on Saturday, February 10, the day before the big game, and leave on Monday, February 12, the day after. You are not alone; carriers such as American Airlines, Southwest Airlines and United Airlines have added domestic flights to meet demand. That hasn’t helped the cost: Airfare is still significantly more expensive than a regular weekend in Las Vegas — about 112 percent higher than the same weekend last year, according to data from Priceline, an online travel agency.
On Tuesday, an online search showed that one of the cheapest available flights from Houston was a non-stop, round-trip ticket from George Bush International Airport on Spirit Airlines to Harry Reid Airport for $563 (including taxes, but no luggage).
While Las Vegas has no shortage of hotel rooms — it has about 151,000, according to the city’s Convention and Visitors Authority — bookings and prices have also increased. Booking site Trivago reports a 140 percent increase in Vegas hotel prices for February, compared to the same month last year, and Priceline estimates that the average cost of a night in a Vegas hotel room is $376 — which would rise to $752.
However, a reservation found Tuesday for two nights at an Extended Stay America hotel room nearly two and a half miles from the Las Vegas Strip started at $498.
According to the Uber estimator, using a ride-hailing app to get to and from the airports in Houston and Las Vegas could cost about $40 each way. Realistically, these prices will increase in Las Vegas, so round up to $200 (if you’re lucky). And you’ll need to get from your Extended Stay room to the stadium and back, during peak hours — which could bring all ground transportation costs to a minimum of about $300.
You have to eat, and some local sites estimate—based on a 2021 visitor profile report compiled for the Convention and Visitors Authority—that tourists pay about $125 a day to eat at mid-range restaurants, so tack on an extra $250 .
Now, about that ticket…
Add that up and your game day weekend comes to $1,611 for one of the cheapest travel itineraries. And that excludes alcohol, gambling and the actual game ticket.
Mr. Robinson, of Houston Ticket Brokers, said part of the reason for the high ticket prices is the stadium’s seating arrangement. “Allegiant Stadium has a lot of VIP areas — courtside tables, suites, club areas — so everything has a premium and that makes it a little different from other Super Bowls. There were simply no cheap seats created in this stadium.”
And the attractiveness of the host city itself can also affect the rising cost of tickets.
“People often travel to Vegas for the Super Bowl — even when the Super Bowl isn’t in Vegas — just to play and watch the game,” he said. “Las Vegas is a Super Bowl destination every year.”
Other ticket sellers are seeing a similar jump. A Tuesday Ticketmaster search for the cheapest single ticket turned up a $6,800 seat. Don’t forget the fees — after a humble $3 processing fee and a hefty $1,445 service charge, the total price is $8,248.
On TickPick, an online ticket marketplace, the average purchase price of Super Bowl tickets listed is $9,835 after fees, 70 percent more expensive than last year’s average price of $5,795. The biggest purchase so far on TickPick was for six tickets (in Section 336) for $14,810 each, or $88,860 in total, according to the company.
“We expect trading activity to increase further as the week progresses,” said Brett Goldberg, co-CEO of TickPick. “When you bring one of the biggest sporting events in the US to one of the most iconic cities, ultimately it’s going to have an impact on ticket prices regardless of who’s playing.”
Add that up, and no matter how much money a traveler saves by staying off the Strip, a two-night trip to Super Bowl LVIII could cost at least $9,859 for one person. Something to munch on while you microwave popcorn and sit on your couch to watch the big game — from home.
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