Looking for Tickets to Sunday’s Game? How Those Prices Stack Up Historically

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Jan 12, 2018

Sunday will mark the first playoff game played at US Bank Stadium in Minneapolis and considering how well the Vikings have played there this season (7-1 record, without allowing a 20 point game) you’d like to think that it was one of many at the Vikings new stadium both this post-season and the next. Because of how season tickets work, a lot of people have felt like finding tickets to the biggest game in Minneapolis since at least 2009 is either impossible or too expensive. While that may be true for some, here at purplePTSD.com (and our sister site VikingsTerritory.com) we’ve sorted through a lot of the different ticket providers to bring you the best deal possible for this Sunday’s game against the New Orleans Saints (courtesy of our friends over at TicketIQ.com). So, while they’re still pretty spendy, let’s look at how much they cost as compared to tickets for other playoff games this year and other games the Vikings have played in recent post-seasons to see if US Bank Stadium is really that much more expensive than TCF or even the Metrodome.

Unlike the last playoff game played in Minneapolis (the 2015 game at TCF Bank Stadium against the Seattle Seahawks), the Vikings will be playing indoors and thus the crowd will be a lot warmer than they were in that game (with temperatures there well below zero during points in that game, which clearly affected both teams and perhaps even kicker Blair Walsh). However, the Vikings/Saints is not the only game this weekend as the Philadelphia Eagles are hosting 2016’s NFC Champion in the Atlanta Falcons. The NFC is certainly shifting, with both the Vikings and Eagles emerging as legitimate Super Bowl contenders. This weekend, both those teams with host a Divisional Round game and despite cold temperatures predicted for both games (or at least the cities they’re playing in), fans of each are ready to pony up big bucks for tickets on the secondary market to attend the arguably the most important football games either franchise has seen in recent years.

Check out this chart that breaks down where the Vikings/Saints tickets rank vs. recent Divisional round games of note:

  • Just how much are fans paying? According to TicketIQ.com, the Eagles average asking price per ticket vs Atlanta is $468. Meanwhile, the Vikings are just barely behind at $459. Cheapest ticket for Eagles/Falcons is $179 while Vikings/Saints is $187.
  • These prices rank 3rd and 4th respectively when looking at the most expensive Divisional Round tickets of the decade, where the 2017 Cowboys/Packers game holds firmly to the top spot with an $824 average asking price.
  • Ticket trends for either game haven’t moved much throughout the weekend. The Vikings have seen just single digit variations in price when looking day-to-day. In Philly, Standing-Room-Only tickets have dipped under $200 but it’s still cost $200 or more for an actual seat at the game.
  • These are by far the most expensive playoff games we’ve tracked for either team. The Vikings are seeing on average an 83% increase from their 2010 Divisional Round game Dallas, while the Eagles are seeing on average over a $100 increase from their 2014 Wild Card game vs New Orleans.
  • The Steelers and most notably the Patriots have each experience price drops throughout the week. In fact, Patriots ticket prices are down by an average of 42.5% since Sunday.

How does that compare to the most recent Vikings playoff games (in both TCF and the Metrodome?):

So, as you can see, US Bank Stadium is a lot more expensive than either TCF Bank Stadium or the Metrodome, but one could argue that you’re getting a lot more bang for your buck in US Bank Stadium. If you’ve yet to check out the new digs, it really is an amazing stadium that feels like you could fit at least three to four TCF Bank Stadiums inside of it. It’s massive. On top of that, the amenities are amazing as well. While it’d be nice to have the home-field advantage that the Vikings had at TCF Bank Stadium, using the cold to their advantage, it was really hard to sit (or stand) through an entire game with the temperatures as cold as they are today and as they were back towards the end of the 2015 season. I was at the Giants game in late December that was sub-zero and we ended up leaving before the 4th quarter because my date was so cold she couldn’t feel her feet anymore. So, you’d have to also think that that factored into the price there as well as the demand simply wasn’t as high when people thought they had to sit outside for three hours or so.

So, while it’s clear that Tickets to Sunday’s game are perhaps the most expensive ever in Minneapolis for a Divisional Round game, it’s also really worth the price of entry. The Vikings defense will really be looking for a crowd that’s as disruptive as possible so hopefully, if you’re considering going you’ll be able to be as loud as possible while the Saints are on the field to give them a little payback for the 2009 NFC Championship game. If all goes according to plan the Vikings will have a few more games at US Bank Stadium this year, and one can assume that the prices will only go up from here. So, check out TicketIQ.com if you’re looking for tickets (Enter the code: NFL for a discount!) and check back with purplePTSD.com/VikingsTerritory.com for tickets next week as well!

 

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