MINNEAPOLIS — If you're looking to attend an NFL game this year, prepare to pay up.
According to an analysis by TicketSmarter, the cost of an average ticket has jumped by more than $100 dollars this year — from $235 in 2022 to $377 in 2023.
"League-wide, the prices are up. It appears the demand for the NFL has never been higher," TicketSmarter CEO Jeff Goodman said. "Even with the inflated prices, it's not scaring [fans] away. I expect you'll see sold-out stadiums pretty much across the country."
With an expanded 17-game schedule, the league drew a record 18.8 million fans last year and hit a six-year high with an average crowd of more than 69,000. The 2023 season will now mark the fourth since the start of the pandemic, and those early days of limited crowds and social distancing seem like a distant memory.
"We're way beyond the pandemic now. I think last year's numbers were outstanding and they'll continue to improve," Goodman said. "The NFL continues to be the most marketable sport in North America, no question."
The Vikings, according to TicketSmarter, rank in the upper-half of the league with the average price of the cheapest ticket at $123.
A lot of it depends on matchup. For example, you can still find tickets for less than $100 for the opener Sunday against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at U.S. Bank Stadium, but later in the season against the defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs, the cheapest ticket will run you close to $300 right now.
Ann Mogilevsky, a lifelong Vikings fan who grew up attending games at the old Met Stadium, said she's been "priced out" of games at U.S. Bank Stadium. She hasn't seen the Vikings play in years but is hoping to take her mother to that Chiefs game in October.
"She has a hard time seeing so I wanted something in the lower level... I looked at prices and I'm like, 'I can barely afford the seats way up at the top!" she said. "How am I going to get my mom there?"
However, prices can obviously fluctuate throughout the season.
"A lot of it will be dictated on performance as the season goes on," Goodman said. "The most hype you have is at the beginning of the year. You will have some games that the prices go up because the supply of tickets has dwindled toward very little, and you will have games where it gets closer to game time, and some of the prices will drop. It really depends on the performance, or if a key player gets injured."
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