How to get Super Bowl tickets: Tips & tricks for scoring passes to the big game

San Francisco 49ers fans are anxiously awaiting Sunday’s NFC Championship Game against the Philadelphia Eagles. The contest will decide whether our hometown heroes advance to Super Bowl LVII on Feb. 12 against either the Kansas City Chiefs or the Cincinnati Bengals.

Understandably, many 49er Faithful may be wondering: How can I score tickets? And how much is it going to cost?

Typically, the NFL sells a small number of tickets directly during the regular season, but that ship has sailed.

Resale tickets may be purchased through the official NFL ticket exchange, which is distributed by Ticketmaster and other third-party websites. Unfortunately, as you might expect, aftermarket passes to this year’s game are being sold at exorbitant prices, way above face value. Head over to Ticketmaster right now, and you’ll see they range from around $6,000 to a cool 19 G’s. Yikes.

Those prices are only expected to climb after Sunday’s game, but they’ll also fluctuate based on demand. With some help from ticket marketplaces Gametime and TickPick, and the insight of an industry insider, we compiled this guide to snagging the best deal on tickets to The Big Game. 

The bulk of Super Bowl tickets are sold in the two weeks between the conference championship games (both of which will be held this Sunday, Jan. 29) and the Super Bowl—when fans know for sure whether their team has made it in.

“Usually, there’s a lot of emotion when your team reaches the Super Bowl,” said Jack Slingland of TickPick, a ticket marketplace that doesn’t charge extra service fees. “That’s when overall traffic tends to increase.”

The best thing to do, of course, is obsessively monitor ticket prices as they continue to fluctuate, or set up a price tracker. However, if you don't have that kind of screen time to spare, note that prices tend to drop in the two weeks following the championship. The lowest prices have historically appeared 72 hours prior to the game.

Still, according to Slingland, the way tickets to high-demand events are sold has changed post-Covid.

“Demand for live events is the strongest that it’s ever been,” Slingland said. “More people are willing to wait until the last minute.”

For that reason, it may be wiser to buy resale tickets during the week before Super Bowl Sunday—not at the 11th hour.

The location of the seat goes a long way in determining the ticket price. To no one’s great surprise, the cheapest tickets are located in the nose-bleed section—the upper levels of the hosting stadium (this year that is State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona) or in the corners, where your view might be less than ideal. The priciest seats are found in the lower-level sections with a clear view of the sidelines. 

Individuals with disabilities can apply for the NFL’s ADA random drawing. If selected, you can purchase a face-value ticket for yourself and a plus one. That won’t help you this year, however, as you must apply between Feb. 1 and June 1 of the year before the Super Bowl. Advice for next year, though!

There are rules around NFL season ticket holders’ access to a team lottery, but chances increase or decrease depending on whether your team is in the Super Bowl or not. Season ticket holders can contact their team to find out how to enter the lottery. If you win the lottery, you can buy tickets at face value (around $700-$1,200). 

You can also enter local radio and TV drawings, which often—but not always—give away free tickets. The 49ers’ official media partners are NBC Bay Area, KNBR The Sports Leader (680 and 1050 AM), The Bone (107.7 FM) and KGO (810 AM).

You can attend one of the dozens of watch parties throughout the Bay Area. … If the Niners are victorious on Sunday, that is.