Bills Ticket Prices Soar on Secondary Market: Now Up 40% Since Season Start

[Nextmanup]

https://www.audacy.com/wgr550/sports/bills/bills-ticket-prices-skyrocketing-on-secondary-market

[Big Turk]

I am surprised it's not higher if I am being honest.

 

I also won't be surprised when we start seeing random celebrities at our games and it starts being a "cool" thing to go watch Allen play and experience BillsMafia and it drives them up even higher.

Edited September 23, 2022 by Big Turk

[Royale with Cheese]

Yeah I looked at tickets last night and saw how much they've gone up.

[Cheektowaga Chad]

A lot of it is the supply, not many people are selling the home games

 

I know people are putting their tickets up just to see if they sell

[Virgil]

I absolutely hate this for a number of reasons.

 

1 - I worry this will be the new normal and serious influence the base ticket prices in the new stadium.  If they see lower bowl tix selling for $400+, why would they not assume that's something everyone can afford.

 

2 - Resellers must be really digging into the Bills and ruining the market for actual fans.  This is the one reason I actually support PSL's, to weed some of them out.

 

3 - Less games for me to go to.  It's actually cheaper for me to go see the Bills play the Jets and Ravens for away games.

[Bleeding Bills Blue]

Just now, Virgil said:

I absolutely hate this for a number of reasons.

 

1 - I worry this will be the new normal and serious influence the base ticket prices in the new stadium.  If they see lower bowl tix selling for $400+, why would they not assume that's something everyone can afford.

 

2 - Resellers must be really digging into the Bills and ruining the market for actual fans.  This is the one reason I actually support PSL's, to weed some of them out.

 

3 - Less games for me to go to.  It's actually cheaper for me to go see the Bills play the Jets and Ravens for away games.

 

Brokers definitely are - they bought up everything they could for the next couple of months and set a new market rate.  You can't really get rid of brokers though, reselling tickets is a necessary evil.  You could try to force people to sell them at face value or something I suppose, but then you might be looking at a fairly empty stadium come December.  And I'm not sure how positive it'd read that ticketmaster lets you lose money on tickets, or get your money back... but never make money.  Despite them making money on both the sale and purchase.  Brokers sell tickets for what people are willing to pay for them - is what it is.  

 

The problem is the bills were so terrible for so long that they were very broker friendly.  They sold season tickets to brokers, but also sold blocks to brokers at discounts to sell out games.  You only get 8 games so its definitely something you had to do back then.  I think Buffalo probably could (and should) raise ticket prices for season ticket holders as well as individual games.  

 

I think the first PSE pin to drop was when they fired the tickets guy at the sabres.  They lost a ton of "season ticket holders" but there were a lot of brokers who were given seats at huge discounts and would then sell them on secondary market.  I think it was one of the reasons the Sabres lost so much money over the last several years.  Now the arena was definitely hurting for attendance in 2021-2022, but the market was brought back to normal - no more 10 dollar seats in the 100s.  Instead - Buffalo just kept the tickets on their books and tried to sell them at face as individual game tickets.  You probably lose some money in the short term, but the strategy is to create some demand again. 

[buffalobill43]

Looking for some advice on this topic:

 

I have been a Bills fan for almost 40 years and now my friend and I are going to our first ever Bills home game vs the Vikings (and first ever trip to the city of Buffalo).  Ticket prices seem absolutely insane to me, as this is our first home Bills game, we really do want to get lower bowl seats if possible.  As some have indicated, $400+ seems to be the going rate with all the fees, any chance the price will go down or do we need to bite the bullet?  Or are there other ticket sites I should check? We already have flights/hotel so this is game (Vikings) is our only option.

Thanks for any advice!

 

GO BILLS!

[SlimShady'sSpaceForce]

BEWARE OF SCAMS 

[Bleeding Bills Blue]

1 minute ago, buffalobill43 said:

Looking for some advice on this topic:

 

I have been a Bills fan for almost 40 years and now my friend and I are going to our first ever Bills home game vs the Vikings (and first ever trip to the city of Buffalo).  Ticket prices seem absolutely insane to me, as this is our first home Bills game, we really do want to get lower bowl seats if possible.  As some have indicated, $400+ seems to be the going rate with all the fees, any chance the price will go down or do we need to bite the bullet?  Or are there other ticket sites I should check? We already have flights/hotel so this is game (Vikings) is our only option.

Thanks for any advice!

 

GO BILLS!

 

The price will almost certainly crash approaching game time.  If the ticket cost someone 100 bucks and they're trying to get 400 - its better to get 50 at 1230 than be out 100.  

 

But you're playing with fire - once everyone starts tailgating the 5G connection barely works (i've had to switch my spotify to downloaded music many times).  Then you have to actually get the barcode (which i do the night before and save to my google wallet).  

[buffalobill43]

8 minutes ago, Bleeding Bills Blue said:

 

The price will almost certainly crash approaching game time.  If the ticket cost someone 100 bucks and they're trying to get 400 - its better to get 50 at 1230 than be out 100.  

 

But you're playing with fire - once everyone starts tailgating the 5G connection barely works (i've had to switch my spotify to downloaded music many times).  Then you have to actually get the barcode (which i do the night before and save to my google wallet).  

Thanks, that is our worry.  Since we are flying in from different parts of the country, we don't want to risk not getting decent seats.  Just shocked at the prices, I went to the Jacksonville game last year and could have high-fived the players and paid $150 per seat.

[Ned Flanders]

Was looking at going to the Vikings game in May and had a chance at 8 tix under $100 each...now I'm kicking myself I didn't jump on them. 

 

The price of success...

 

Makes me long for the days before technology when I could roam the bus lot and pick up a ticket for $5 because some poor schmuck overslept and missed the bus and the group leader would just take anything to get rid of the ticket.  

[ticketssince61]

- I am pretty sure the Bills do not sell directly to brokers

- Prior to this year, people who sell tickets did not make that much $.  Last year, there were many games where tickets were being sold at 33 to 50% of face

- Games in December and January are always much cheaper than earlier in the season

- Stubhub and NFL Ticket Exchange charge fees to BOTH buyer and seller. If someone lists their tickets for $200 each. The buyer will pay around $250 each, and the seller receives $180. 

- the best bet is to try to find a legit seller on Craigslist (not so easy) or TBD to avoid the fees. if using craigslist, insist on using Paypal Goods & Services which provide  a buyer guarantee

[plenzmd1]

 

1 hour ago, Bleeding Bills Blue said:

 

The price will almost certainly crash approaching game time.  If the ticket cost someone 100 bucks and they're trying to get 400 - its better to get 50 at 1230 than be out 100.  

 

But you're playing with fire - once everyone starts tailgating the 5G connection barely works (i've had to switch my spotify to downloaded music many times).  Then you have to actually get the barcode (which i do the night before and save to my google wallet).  

can tell they mist certainly did not crash MOnday night..at all!

 

The first 4 games are just expensive...Everyone  wants big name,  warm weather games, November/December games... can prolly still buy the AFC East games at season ticket prices directly from the Bills. 

 

Ya know, the elasticity of prices and demand and all and the work Marshall did.

[RiotAct]

1 hour ago, buffalobill43 said:

Looking for some advice on this topic:

 

I have been a Bills fan for almost 40 years and now my friend and I are going to our first ever Bills home game vs the Vikings (and first ever trip to the city of Buffalo).  Ticket prices seem absolutely insane to me, as this is our first home Bills game, we really do want to get lower bowl seats if possible.  As some have indicated, $400+ seems to be the going rate with all the fees, any chance the price will go down or do we need to bite the bullet?  Or are there other ticket sites I should check? We already have flights/hotel so this is game (Vikings) is our only option.

Thanks for any advice!

 

GO BILLS!

if the weather report looks crappy for that game a few days out, folks will want to dump their tickets and prices will come down.

[TBBills]

I was waiting for the dolphins to lose but that fluke win made the Dolphins fans think they are amazing so the tickets are super expensive.  Luckily one of my food reps has a skybox and extra tickets. 

[Gugny]

2 hours ago, Virgil said:

I absolutely hate this for a number of reasons.

 

1 - I worry this will be the new normal and serious influence the base ticket prices in the new stadium.  If they see lower bowl tix selling for $400+, why would they not assume that's something everyone can afford.

 

2 - Resellers must be really digging into the Bills and ruining the market for actual fans.  This is the one reason I actually support PSL's, to weed some of them out.

 

3 - Less games for me to go to.  It's actually cheaper for me to go see the Bills play the Jets and Ravens for away games.

 

For the Steelers game, there are 300-level tickets re-selling for $400.

 

I am 99.9% certain this will be my last year attending a game.  I expected to be priced out with the new stadium; but I didn't expect to be priced out beginning next year.

 

MetLife is only a 3.5 hour drive for me (as opposed to ~5 hours to Orchard Park), but it seems like the Bills always play in New Jersey during the winter months and I have no interest in that.

[Olaf Fub]

Ticketmaster fees are part of the reason ticket prices are so high.

 

I sold my tickets to the opener and to the Pittsburgh game. I netted around 300 bucks per ticket.

 

Ticketmaster charged me a $32 fee per ticket to sell, plus they charged a $70 per ticket fee to the buyer. Twenty-five percent of the ticket cost the buyer pays ($100+) on a $400 secondary market ticket goes to Ticketmaster. 

 

I regretted selling the Titans game when I started watching on Monday night. However, I'm hoping the money I made off these two games will cover the cost of playoff tickets.  

[Bleeding Bills Blue]

1 hour ago, Ned Flanders said:

Was looking at going to the Vikings game in May and had a chance at 8 tix under $100 each...now I'm kicking myself I didn't jump on them. 

 

The price of success...

 

Makes me long for the days before technology when I could roam the bus lot and pick up a ticket for $5 because some poor schmuck overslept and missed the bus and the group leader would just take anything to get rid of the ticket.  

 

Yep - my brothers and i dragged our feet and this is the result.  Next year we're going to plan this on schedule release day.  

[zow2]

2 hours ago, buffalobill43 said:

Looking for some advice on this topic:

 

I have been a Bills fan for almost 40 years and now my friend and I are going to our first ever Bills home game vs the Vikings (and first ever trip to the city of Buffalo).  Ticket prices seem absolutely insane to me, as this is our first home Bills game, we really do want to get lower bowl seats if possible.  As some have indicated, $400+ seems to be the going rate with all the fees, any chance the price will go down or do we need to bite the bullet?  Or are there other ticket sites I should check? We already have flights/hotel so this is game (Vikings) is our only option.

Thanks for any advice!

 

GO BILLS!

 

I fly in for a game every year.  I usually take one of my kids or my dad.  This year it's insane how ticket prices have blown up.  I don't care about the opponent, I just have to go on a weekend that works for us.  This season it happens to be the Vikings game on Nov. 13th.  Like you I already had the flight/lodging.  I was searching all over for a reasonable pair of lower level tickets.  I don't want to gamble that the ticket prices will crash as I don't think they will.  I finally bit the bullet a few days ago and paid $744.50 for a pair in the LL corner.   I would just get them.  The Bills fans around America are ALL IN on this season and the games will remain in high demand, especially prior to December.

[zow2]

2 hours ago, Virgil said:

I absolutely hate this for a number of reasons.

 

1 - I worry this will be the new normal and serious influence the base ticket prices in the new stadium.  If they see lower bowl tix selling for $400+, why would they not assume that's something everyone can afford.

 

2 - Resellers must be really digging into the Bills and ruining the market for actual fans.  This is the one reason I actually support PSL's, to weed some of them out.

 

3 - Less games for me to go to.  It's actually cheaper for me to go see the Bills play the Jets and Ravens for away games.

 

Yup, way less expensive to get Ravens/Bills tix,... but I was smart enough to grab those within a couple days of the schedule release.