If you were trying to score Super Bowl LVI tickets back in early 2022, you probably remember the sheer panic in the air. It wasn't just another game. It was the first time in two years that the NFL really opened the doors wide after the weirdness of the pandemic.
People were hungry.
SoFi Stadium in Inglewood was the backdrop, a $5.5 billion "palace" that felt more like a spaceship than a football field. You had the hometown Los Angeles Rams taking on the Cincinnati Bengals, a team that basically nobody expected to be there. This created a weird, perfect storm for the secondary market.
Honestly, the prices were offensive.
What Super Bowl LVI Tickets Really Cost
We hear "average price" thrown around a lot, but that doesn't tell the whole story. By the Friday before kickoff, SeatGeek was tracking average prices north of $9,000. If you wanted to just "get in" the building—we’re talking nosebleeds where the players look like ants—you were looking at roughly $5,000 before fees.
Once those Ticketmaster or StubHub fees hit? Add another 20%. Suddenly, your "affordable" five-grand seat is costing you a used Honda Civic.
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The Home Team Premium
The Rams playing at home changed everything. Usually, Super Bowl fans have to book flights, find hotels that aren't gouging them (spoiler: they always are), and figure out rental cars. But for a huge chunk of the Rams fan base, they just had to drive down the 405.
Since they weren't spending $3,000 on travel, they just funneled that cash into the tickets. It kept the "floor" of the market incredibly high. You didn't see the usual Saturday night price crash because the local demand was just too steady.
The Last-Minute Gamble: Did Waiting Work?
There is this old legend that if you wait until the second quarter starts, you can buy a ticket for pennies from a desperate broker outside the gate.
Don't do that.
For Super Bowl LVI, the "bottom" of the market actually happened a few days before the game. Some lucky people snagged upper-level seats for around $3,500 to $4,000. But as Sunday morning rolled around, the "get-in" price spiked back up toward $5,000.
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I saw one guy on Reddit mention he paid $7,000 for a third-level endzone seat and felt like he got a bargain. That's the level of insanity we were dealing with. If you were looking for premium seats—lower bowl, 50-yard line—you were looking at $11,000 to $20,000 per ticket.
Why the Bengals Fans Blew the Curve
Cincinnati hadn't been to the big game since 1988. Most of the fans in the stands weren't even born the last time the Bengals were relevant in February. That kind of "once-in-a-lifetime" desperation drives prices through the roof. When a fan base is starved for 30+ years, they stop looking at their bank account balance and start looking at their credit limit.
Scams and the "Zone" Ticket Trap
One thing that really burned people during the Super Bowl LVI ticket cycle was "zone seating."
Basically, brokers sell you a ticket for a "zone" (like "Upper Level Sideline") without actually owning the specific seat yet. They bet that the price will drop, they'll buy a cheap seat, and pocket the difference.
But in 2022, the prices didn't drop.
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This led to some nightmare scenarios where fans flew to LA, stayed in a hotel, showed up at the stadium, and then got an email saying, "Sorry, we couldn't fulfill your order. Here's a refund."
A refund doesn't put you in SoFi Stadium. It just leaves you standing in a parking lot in Inglewood watching the game on your phone.
Real-World Takeaways from LVI
Looking back, Super Bowl LVI was the blueprint for the "new normal" of NFL championship pricing. It proved that $6,000 is no longer a high price—it’s the baseline.
If you're ever planning to pull the trigger on a future Super Bowl, keep these hard-learned lessons from the 2022 season in mind:
- The "Home Team" Factor: If the host city's team is in the game, the market will not crash. Expect to pay a 20-30% premium.
- Avoid "Zone" Listings: If the seller doesn't have a specific section and row listed, you are gambling with your entry. Only buy verified, instant-delivery tickets.
- The Wednesday Sweet Spot: Historically, the Wednesday or Thursday before the game is often when inventory is highest and prices stabilize before the "panic buyers" arrive on Saturday.
- Budget for 25% More: Whatever the listed price is, the fees and taxes are going to kick your teeth in. If you have $5,000, you're looking at a $4,000 ticket.
The game itself was a nail-biter, with the Rams winning 23-20. Cooper Kupp was a beast. But for the 70,048 people in those seats, the real victory was just surviving the ticket-buying process without going bankrupt.