Shrinking Venues

According to a story in today’s Sun-Times, the average purchase price on the secondary market at TickPick for a Super Bowl ticket in Las Vegas hit an all-time high of $9,815. How interesting. Allegiant Stadium seats only 62,000 people. You’d think that the true national pastime would want to give as many fans as possible a chance to see the game, but that hasn’t been the trend over the last four years. The last time a Super Bowl drew 70,000-plus was back in 2019. Ten years ago, 82,529 fans packed MetLife Stadium to watch Pete Carroll and the Seahawks overwhelm John Fox and the Broncos, 43-8 (that humiliation no doubt making Fox an attractive coaching candidate for the Bears a year later). The last time a Super Bowl game attracted 100,000-plus fans was 2011. The all-time attendance record of 103,985 dates to 1980. I’m sure Commissioner Roger Goodell will get around to the problem of shrinking venues, someday. Until then, there’s always the law of supply and demand, with a little assist from the NFL.