Cost Of An NFL Ticket

The NFL remains the hottest ticket in world sport as the popularity of the league grows year-on-year. The league is now one of the most popular markets on the best best betting sites, and with an increase in TV audiences watching America's game worldwide, so to does the cost of attending an NFL game. 

Of all the major sports played in the States, the NFL season lasts the least amount of time, with each of the 32 teams playing just 17 games in the regular season. Because of the brutal nature of the sport, players are not asked to play multiple games in two or three days like they are in the NBA, MLB and NHL. 

With an odd number of games, each team alternates between playing eight home games one season and nine the next. The average cost of an NFL ticket in the States has risen by 60% from £191 ($235) last season to £306 ($377). At Bookies, we look at why ticket prices have been hiked as much as they have. 

Owners Cash In On League's Popularity

The cost of living continues to increase no matter where in the world you are. With the exception of the Green Bay Packers, which is the only publicly owned major professional sports franchise in North America, the 31 NFL team owners are business people, who know that they can more or less charge what they want for a ticket, knowing fans will still pay to watch their favourite team.

The NFL is not a charity, and there is little chance of ticket prices falling any time soon. It was only three years ago when teams had to play their games with no fans in the stands during the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to a massive loss of revenue for every franchise. It was reported that some teams lost around £300m ($370m) through tickets sales in 2020. 

Teams can use COVID-19 as an excuse for increasing their ticket prices, but sooner or later that excuse will run thin. While attendances are still as high as ever, with 95% capacity or more so far this season, owners will continue to make as much money as they can without any consideration for the fans. 

Highest Average Ticket Prices For 2023:
£477 ($582) - Las Vegas Raiders
£474 ($578) - Kansas City Chiefs
£458 ($559) - Philadelphia Eagles

The average cost of a ticket to attend an NFL game last season was £191 ($235), according to TicketSmarter. This season, that price has been hiked up 60% to £306 ($377). It's no surprise which three teams are at the top end of the range. The Las Vegas Raiders built a new stadium that includes a $650m loan from the Bank of America that needs paying off. 

This year's Super Bowl will be played at the Raiders' Allegiant Stadium, which will help to cover the costs incurred in the construction of their state-of-the-art stadium next to the strip in Las Vegas. The next two on the list happen to be the two sides who contested Super Bowl LVII. 

The Kansas City Chiefs beat the Philadelphia Eagles 38-35 in Arizona, and both teams are among the favourites with NFL betting sites to represent their respective conferences in Vegas in February. When a team is doing well, reaching Super Bowls, owners know that more people will want to attend games, which is why these two teams are charging an average price close to £480 ($590). 

When teams are losing game after game, there is little incentive to watch so prices are kept as low as possible. That's great news for fans of the Atlanta Falcons, Houston Texans and Arizona Cardinals, who offer the cheapest average price. Between them, the trio combined for a total of 14 wins from 51 last season. 

Lowest Average Ticket Prices For 2023:
£184 ($225) - Atlanta Falcons
£193 ($236) - Houston Texans
£205 ($250) - Arizona Cardinals

International Calendar Impacts Income

The NFL is the most popular sport in America, and Commissioner Roger Goddell wants it to be the world's most popular sport. Taking the game abroad has certainly helped with that mission. 

This year, a total of five regular-season games were scheduled to be played outside America. Talks are ongoing about Spain and Brazil also hosting games as more and more people get into the sport. This comes at a time when flag football has been announced as being a sport at the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles. 

For every game played on foreign land, one team has to be prepared to sacrifice a home game and hope the lost revenue can be offset by attracting new fans from overseas who then buy merchandise, and lots of it.

Cheapest NFL Tickets Are Abroad

The NFL's push to make the sport a global game gets ratcheted up a bit further every year. After COVID-19 put the International Series on hold during the 2020 season, every effort is being made to make up for lost time. 

Just two games were played in England the following season, while last year saw three games played in London and one in Munich. This season, five games will be played on European soil - three in London and two in Frankfurt, Germany. Ironically, it's overseas where fans pay the least for an NFL game ticket. The average cost of a ticket for the Falcons game with the Jaguars at Wembley last month was £132 ($160). 

The second and third London games were played at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, where the average cost of a ticket was £109 ($133). The stadium was built primarily for Premier League soccer but designed with NFL games in mind with the world's first dividing, retractable pitch on top of a synthetic pitch underneath that is used for NFL games. 

The Miami Dolphins face the Kansas City Chiefs in the first Frankfurt game on Sunday before the New England Patriots and Indianapolis Colts go head-to-head a week later at the same stadium. The average cost for these games is £130 ($158), which is £179 ($219) cheaper than in the US.

The demand for NFL tickets shows no sign of abating, and while the demand is there on both sides of the Atlantic, we can expect ticket prices to continue to increase.