It's easier than you might think to find cheap tickets to the big football game...
Minnesota Vikings head coach Mike Tice was recently lambasted in the national media for allegedly scalping tickets to February's Super Bowl. While the move was very suspect on Tice's behalf, his heart seemed to lie in the right place --- football tickets are the toughest sell in sports.
Consider: professional baseball teams play 162 games (81 home) throughout basically the entire summer; collegiate teams play about 70 throughout the spring. While weekend and rivalry games might get sold out, it's almost always possible to get tickets --- and on the cheap. Baseball teams, geared up for a long season, offer numerous discount nights, family nights, and other incentives. The NBA plays 82 games (41 at home) and typically offer similar programs to bring down the cost of the entire evening. Even hockey --- when it existed --- played 40 home games a year, and let's be honest, near the end they were doing everything short of handing tickets to people for free on public transportation.
Football's a different animal. Pro teams play eight home games a year, and collegiate teams play five or six. With the religious fervor that surrounds Saturdays and Sundays in the fall, demand meets supply at such an angle that football administrations don't have to offer "family-friendly" price break packages. The entire cost --- from parking to concessions to merchandise --- can be prohibitive. Bankrate.com estimates a family of four spends $322 at football games, as opposed to $261 for the NBA and around $240 for NHL.
The best way to spend less is to get in the door cheapest --- but how? Where do you snag the cheapest football tickets possible?
1) Friends and Co-Workers: This sounds obvious, but here's the deal with football. Corporations control a hefty percentage of the tickets, but games almost always occur on weekends --- when many people have family obligations. If you stick around your friends or co-workers (sports fans) long enough, chances are you'll be offered 2-4 tickets to a NFL or collegiate game within a three-year window. It's a long time to wait, but isn't the best definition of "cheap" actually "free?"
2) Craigslist and Ebay: Two of the leaders in the "Internet marketplace" arena, Craig's List (a more regionalized version) and eBay (a national approach) frequently offer tickets at extraordinarily low prices. Again, Craig's List tends to attract users who absolutely need to sell (i.e. their "˜furniture' section is almost 100 percent people who are moving away), so if you check the site on Thursdays, under "Tickets," it's a good bet you'll be able to find something affordable for that weekend. It can be tricky, though --- Craig's List is regularly viewed by thousands, so you need to e-mail the supplier back immediately. E-Bay tends to be a bit pricier, as sellers attempt to get closer to face value, but watch expiring auctions on tickets relevant to the upcoming weekend. If no one is bidding, chances are the seller will re-post the tickets as an auction at a much lower price level. The advantage E-Bay holds is that they'll e-mail you when your bid has been upped by another bidder, so it doesn't require constant checking (Craig's List does).
3) Onlineseats.com: If you search for the phrase "cheap football tickets" on any major search engine, over five million hits come up. One of the best is onlineseats.com, which offers most NFL teams at comparatively lower prices than other sites advertising the exact same services. As an added bonus, the site will give you some background on the squad and their upcoming opponents.
4) Razorgator.com: One of the more intriguing concepts in searching for NFL tickets is Razor Gator, which bills itself as the "most trusted name in Hard to Get tickets," and perhaps rightfully so --- the group has been around since 1958. Razor Gator itself does not actually sell tickets, but it will help you find tickets to any sporting event within a desired price range. This will work for you in some respects, but not all, because Razor Gator operates on a system dictated by "market demand price." For example, if two teams are playing each other for a spot in the postseason, or two rivals are colliding, the "market demand price" will force the ticket price higher, perhaps over the printed face value. However, for run-of-the-mill games, or late-season games without much at stake, Razor Gator is a well-run, safe bet to find a cheap ticket.
