Face value on Super Bowl LII ticket prices revealed: Seats range from $950 to $5,000

In the unlikely event that you have an elite Super Bowl LII ticket connection that isn’t going to charge even a penny over face value, well, pack a warm coat and a lot of cash.

With ticket brokers anxiously waiting to see if the Minnesota Vikings drive the market into the stratosphere, a source with intimate knowledge of this year’s Super Bowl ticket release provided Yahoo Sports with the face values of this year’s batch. Despite expected frigid temperatures in Minneapolis, the site of next month’s Super Bowl, face value (the price printed on the ticket itself) will be predictably rich. A raise in prices has this year’s seats ranging from $950 in the worst nosebleed offerings all the way to the $5,000 club seats that are typically gifted to sponsors, executives and other VIPs by the league.

Those are the “zero markup” prices, mind you. The secondary market could be much higher, potentially astronomical if the Vikings beat the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFC title game on Sunday. How high could they go? Multiply the face value of tickets by four, five or six times their printed price. Or more.

“Let’s just say that if the Vikings win, there will be a lot of bass fishing boats for sale next week in Minnesota,” one broker joked.

This is the week when Super Bowl tickets start trickling to the market, establishing a true “get in” price – which is known as the cheapest price to enter the stadium. But the league’s face values printed on the tickets themselves usually give a road map to how wild the aftermarket price hikes will get in certain areas of the stadium. Those face value prices don’t typically surface until later this week, but a source with knowledge of pricing data provided Yahoo Sports with an overview of the baseline costs for this year’s Super Bowl.

The four most intriguing takeaways:

• Delta Sky360 Club seats behind the NFC sideline – comprised of five premium lower bowl sections between the 20-yard lines – have a face value of $5,000 per seat. This swath of tickets typically falls into the hands of super VIPs such as the biggest league sponsors, family of high ranking executives and celebrities. To put that price in perspective, one Vikings season ticket (encompassing 10 games) in this area costs $4,000 per year. That’s $1,000 less than the face price of one Super Bowl ticket in the same section. That’s a bargain compared to what the secondary market price could demand if the Vikings advance to the Super Bowl. StubHub currently has listings in this section starting at $17,500 per seat.

• The nosebleed seats will be found in 24 sections of the outer rims of the stadium overlooking each end zone. These are the seats that most commonly find their way into the hands of the average fans via lotteries, giveaways or “budget” Super Bowl travel packages. A Vikings season ticket in this area runs $500. A Super Bowl face value ticket is $950. As of Monday night, StubHub aftermarket prices for a Super Bowl ticket in these sections start at $4,250.

• Perhaps the most interesting price point for the NFL in Super Bowl LII is the second-worst nosebleed seats – 18 sections in the upper bowl stadium “corners”. Those are still a pricey $1,250. According to a handful of NFL agents who spoke to Yahoo Sports, many of their players have been landing seats in these sections from the allotments given to NFL teams. StubHub’s early listings in this area are starting at $4,350.

• In between the prime seats and the nosebleeds, the NFL’s face values for all lower bowl seats start at $2,700 each. Second-tier club seats – in the Medtronic and Hyundai clubs – are listed at $3,500 apiece. That’s roughly the same amount as a Vikings season ticket in the same section. StubHub’s cheapest ticket in this section starts at $9,000.