Sođ much for being the most expensive Super Bowl ever.
With ticket prices in a freefall, seats for Sundayâs MetLife Stadium matchup between the Seattle Seahawks and Denver Broncos could end up being the least expensive for a Super Bowl since the postđ -9/11 game of 2002.
After hitting record highs last week, ticket prices took a nose dive over the weekend, with the cheapest prices plummeting nearly 50 percent, to a low of $1,150 from about $2,200 at 9 a.m. on Jan. 1â9.
While the cold weather had been a concern, thatâs now been factored into prices and isnât expected to have much of an efđŹfect going forward, unless there is a snowstorm, market watchers said.
Instead, limited travel demand by fans of the two Western teams, a glut of available tickets and sluggish interest in the đNew York metropolitan area are contributing to the tailspin.
More thaân 18,000 tickets reꌺmained available on the secondary market Monday.
âEveryone had this notion at the beginningđ of the process that this would be a hot ticket and prices would match everything else in New York,â said Chris Matcovich, of Tiqiq.com, a secondary ticket marketer.
âThe fact of the matter is that is not the case, and it đdoesnât look like that will be the case a week out.â
The combđined 4,600 miles for both fan bases to travel is âa bit tough,â Matcovich, saidđ .
He said ticket prices may show âaඣ slight uptickâ asđ˛ the week progresses, but theyâll likely come back down by the weekend.
âBrokers this week are praying that locals bail them out and stâart buying,â he said.
Connor Gregoire, of Seatgeek.com, said the market âis in a tailspin,â with prices spiraling âat a record rate [and] likely to be dragged dođ¸wn further.â
The average price paid for a ticket plunged 40 percent over the weekend, to âas đ low $2,056, from $3,439 in the first 24 hours after Seattle and Denver won their games last week, he said.
The averđage price moved up slightly by Monday, to $2,862.
âThereâs effectđŹively no way that this game will be the most expensive Super Bowl ever when itâs all said and done,â Gregoire said.
âIt looks đŻincreasingly that this yearâs Super Bowl will be the least expensive since XXXVI in 2002 [when] tickets were selling far under face value on game day.â
Stacked up against all recent Super Bowls, this past weekendâs average price ranks as the cheapest paid for a Super Bowl ticket on the weekend before theâą big game since 2011, Gregoire said.
The average price for a weekend-before-the-game ticket in 2013 was $2,512. It was $3,127 in 2012 and $3,51đ3 in 2011ę§.
On Monday, the lowest-price ticket in the mezzanine section was $1,781, off neađťrly 40 percent from the prior week, and lower-level tickets could be had for $1,870, also off 40 percent, Matcovich noted.
Meanwhile, pđrices for seats with access to heat â private suites or seats located by a warđ§ming concourse â are âholding steady,â said Gregoire, with the average sales price between $6,000 and $7,000.
âRealistically, if sales donât start to pick uđ p in the next few days, this weekend will be a buyerâs paradise,â Matcovich said.