One of the most interesting things about the cost of attending an NFL game is how there is no relationship between how much you pay and how good the team is. In fact, only three of the ten most expensive NFL teams to watch had winning seasons last year. This is worse than the ten cheapest NFL teams to watch where four had a winning season.
The data for this comes from Team Marketing Report, who worked out the cost for a family of four including tickets, two beers, two sodas, four hot dogs, two souvenir hats and parking.
This demonstrates one of great rules in the economics of sport – fans are some of the best consumers a product could ever want as they will part with their money regardless of the quality of the product.
Super Bowl value
Whoever wins this weekend’s Super Bowl it is worth noting that both teams offer better value for fans. For less than the NFL average of $553 it would be possible to watch both Tampa Bay ($504) or Kansas City ($530). Compare this to the 8-8 Las Vegas Raiders where it would cost you a whopping $783 to sit in the shiny new stadium.
Where to find the value
The map below shows each NFL franchise colour coded by cost. The Southeast US is probably the best part of the country if you’re looking for value, while the North East would the worst, alongside Las Vegas and up the coast to Seattle.
In the Midwest it is more of a mixed picture, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Buffalo, and Detroit all have some of the lowest costs while Chicago and Green Bay are some of the most expensive.
There are many factors that drive the price of attending a game. The general economics of the region (large cities are always more expensive), the team history and legacy, local interest and match day experience. And of course, some fans will just pay whatever it takes to see their team.
How much empty stadiums are costing teams?
Another way to look at these figures is to think about how much revenue teams are losing while fans are not at the game (or severely reduced). Not only in terms of ticket sales, but also all the additional revenue that comes from concessions and merchandise. Estimates of total losses put it somewhere between $2bn to $4bn, so I would expect costs of those hot dogs to go up even more next year!
Sport.dat 