That means the same family of four under the Fan Cost Index pays $678.16 just for four tickets on the secondary market. The Packers’ average ticket price that year was $78.84, meaning the average ticket bought on the secondary market went for $171.79. It’s important to note that the Fan Cost Index measures face value tickets bought directly from the teams and not from online brokers like StubHub or TicketMaster.įorbes studied data from those secondary ticket markets (StubHub, TicketMaster, NFL Ticket Exchange, etc.) from the 2012 season and reported tickets at Lambeau Field sold for 217.9 percent over face value. In a piece I wrote pleading the NFL to consider showing games in movie theaters, I noted that the Fan Cost Index reported the cost of attending an NFL game was $337.72 in 2014. This metric includes four average-priced tickets, two small draft beers, four small soft drinks, four regular-size hot dogs, parking for one car, two game programs and two of the least-expensive, adult-sized caps. One way to measure the expense of attending a game is through a metric called Fan Cost Index. Attending a Packers game is more expensive than you think

That’s a loss of over $200 for a season ticket holder with four seats. The experience of attending regular season games is so great that the league can bolt on meaningless exhibition contests, and fans will suck it up and lay the money down.įor fans who don’t wish to see the preseason game and would rather sell their tickets, 50-yard line tickets in 2016’s preseason averaged just $20 each throughout the league. The NFL has been slow to shrink or modify the preseason because of policies like Green Bay’s that forces season ticket holders to buy preseason tickets. It’s a nice gesture by the Packers to acknowledge that the preseason games aren’t of the same quality as the regular season games. For bleacher seats between the 20-yard lines, regular season tickets are $131 each while the preseason game is $71. The price difference between a preseason and regular season ticket is significant, but not enough. Until 2016, there was no discount to watch an exhibition contest. Both Green package and Gold package season ticket holders must purchase one preseason game. The one cure that winning cannot fix is the mandatory preseason ticket, however. Within ten days of Rodgers’ injury, the average price to see the Packers dropped by $100. Packers fans saw in 2017 firsthand what problems lay underneath the surface when Aaron Rodgers went down for most of the season. Winning cures and covers a lot of problems. The Packers and their preseason ticket problem It’s no longer about “who you know” if you want to go to a game at Lambeau Field. If you weren’t a season ticket holder and wanted to attend a game before the internet, you either had to contact a ticket broker, respond to a classified ad in the newspaper, or hope to buy a ticket near the stadium on game day. One reason why is because tickets are more available today than ever before. More than 133,000 people are on the waiting list to purchase Packers season tickets, though Jason Wilde suggests just two-thirds would actually buy tickets if given the chance. Vince Lombardi was the Packers head coach the last time there were unsold seats at Lambeau Field. His successor Mark Murphy has raised prices for nine consecutive seasons. In the five seasons from 2014 to today, the Packers raised ticket prices each year for a combined total of $27 per seat.īob Harlan, the Packers previous President & CEO, had a habit of raising ticket prices every other season. In a five season stretch from 2003 to 2007, the Packers raised ticket prices just three times for a combined total of $13 per seat. Raising ticket prices makes sense, but nine straight years? While the decision to raise ticket prices makes rational sense, it’s a bad look for the Packers organization. Visiting teams get a percentage of ticket sales. When the team chose to not raise prices on tickets from 2007-2009, other NFL teams expressed frustration with the decision.Per President and CEO Mark Murphy, the team aims to price their tickets in the middle of the league.Richard Ryman of the Green Bay Press-Gazette explained the rationale behind the changes: The Green package (six regular season games and one preseason game) will increase by $44 per seat and the Gold package (two regular season games and one preseason game) will increase by $16 per seat. For the ninth consecutive season, the Packers announced that they’re raising ticket prices.