Benjamin Madoff

22 March 2025

Dating back to the Ancient Greeks, people packed themselves into sporting arenas to celebrate the Greek Gods as well as the peak of human physicality. Thousands of eager spectators would gather every four years to witness the Olympic Games not just for the physical games themselves, but more importantly for the community (as well as the food). At the height of the games’ popularity, at least 40,000 spectators filled the stadium each and every day. [1] Considering admission into the stands of the Olympics was free, the Ancient Greeks would have been astonished to  learn the price of an NFL Super Bowl ticket today, as well as the amount of available tickets for the general public. While hundreds of thousands of fans attend each football game every season, the Super Bowl is the one event where many decide they would rather watch at home, regardless of whether it is their team playing or not. Due to the anti-consumer and frankly cold-heartedly corporate practices of the NFL during the Super Bowl, fans are forced to participate in an absurd resale market for tickets, general enthusiasm decreases despite an increasing number of viewers, and the constant insertion of corporate cash grabs continuously erodes the spirit and community of the game each year.

The largest and most apparent problem as to why football fans cannot attend the Super Bowl as opposed to other sporting events is because the tickets are too expensive and scarce. The average price for a ticket in the past five  years ranged from $4,000 to $13,000 [2]. This accessibility pales in comparison to championship games of other sports such as the NBA Finals at around $1,000 – $4,000 [3] and the MLB World Series ranging from $1,500 to $2,500 [4]. While these games are still expensive, they are much less than the average Super Bowl ticket. This was not always the case, though. Forty  years ago, Super Bowl tickets were priced around $100 on average after adjusted for inflation [5]. Paired with the expensive tickets, there are very few tickets even available for purchase, which hikes the prices. The NFL gives seventy-five  percent of their tickets away to each football team, who give them to their season pass holders using a lottery system. The majority of these go to the two teams playing, followed by the home team, and then the rest. No tickets are made available to the general public. Ticketmaster, however, resells these tickets for exorbitant prices, as the NFL endorses Ticketmaster as the “Official Resale Marketplace of the NFL” [6]. Ticketmaster’s resale monopoly is a problem in and of itself, but fans shouldn’t be forced to participate in this second hand market at all, scalped at the mercy of a lucky few who were randomly selected. The remaining 25 percent  of tickets go to business partners, sponsors, high-profile individuals, and the media (equalling around 20,750 of the 83,000 seats from this past Super Bowl). [7] [8] These consist of C-Suite Executives of the NFL’s various sponsors, including Apple Music, Best Buy, and Draft Kings. [9] They also consist of journalists from networks like ESPN, CBS, and Fox [10] as well as influencers and celebrities. An influx of celebrities and powerful people has led some to spend millions of dollars just to sit near and network with these individuals. [11] This corporate favorship not only serves to alienate fans, but to prevent many from having the opportunity to purchase tickets by taking a quarter of the seats from the NFL community. The lack of tickets and the raise in price combine to forge an incredibly unlikable business practice which serves to dampen fans’ desires to attend.

Beyond ticket inaccessibility, another major issue is declining enthusiasm despite rising viewership. Once a celebration of football, the Super Bowl is now more about spectacle than sport. Many tune in for the halftime show or commercials rather than the game itself, inflating the viewership. According to a survey from Lendingtree on Super Bowl viewership, “Nearly half (48 percent) of viewers [say] the game isn’t the primary reason for watching.” [12] Many companies create specific advertisements for the Super Bowl, whether it be announcing new products or making celebrity cameos. This results in a large battle for ad-time and annoys those who simply wanted to enjoy the game. For example, Super Bowl LIII and the ones prior contained around forty-nine and a half minutes of ads. Regular-season games run around 15 percent  less ads than the Super Bowl, resulting in around seven fewer minutes of ads. [13] To most, fifty minutes of ads seems a lot, and this is not including the halftime show, which is twice as long as a regular halftime break. [14] As entertainment elements take center stage, the fundamental excitement of the sport gets lost in the shuffle, leaving dedicated football enthusiasts feeling sidelined. The game, which should be the highlight, is often reduced to just another segment between large performances and eye-catching advertisements. While halftime performers are barely paid [15], they do steal the focus away from the game. They make the Super Bowl function more as a corporate crossover than a sports game. While casual viewers may enjoy the flashy elements, football fans find themselves increasingly disconnected from the experience, as the event prioritizes entertainment value over the purity of the game. In order to reduce the influence ads and sponsors have on the game, the NFL should be required to only hold a certain, mandated number of sponsorships, as well as setting a price cap on ad slots while also reducing the number of ads present in a Super Bowl. While the structure of football allows for a lot of downtime between plays, this downtime should instead be used for audience and fan engagement, allowing for fan activities on the field, polls online, and more. Reducing the number of sponsors and ads each Super Bowl has will greatly increase the amount of engagement the audience will have with the game while also emphasizing the importance of being in the stands.

Many possible solutions towards fixing the corporatization of the Super Bowl involve the pricing and availability of tickets. In order to decrease the cost of the ticket, the NFL would need to place a price cap on the tickets to not exceed the range of other sporting events. This will increase the demand for tickets while ensuring that tickets are incredibly popular and enviable. The most devoted fans will be the ones who end up with tickets instead of the C-Suite and influencers due to more affordable prices. Also, the NFL will need to limit the price of resale on Ticketmaster in order to curb scalpers. As of now, there is no NFL policy to control the price level of tickets, leading to prices rising exponentially and scalpers controlling the market. Due to there being no form of regulation, nothing is stopping a lucky few from gatekeeping the Super Bowl from many others. Another solution includes increasing the supply. In order to ensure more people can enjoy the game, the NFL should work on implementing more seating in each stadium they host in. Whether it be building a new stadium which can accommodate more people or placing temporary seating, there is a lack of supply as well as a lack of demand. By increasing the supply of seats, not only can more people watch the game in person, but the prices of seats can be more affordable and more easily manageable. The supply and demand of Super Bowl Tickets, or lack thereof, are the key hurdles and solutions towards granting accessibility to the Super Bowl.

Rampant commercialization further erodes the Super Bowl’s spirit. Excessive advertising, corporate sponsorships, and branding overshadow the game. With thirty-second ads costing around $8 million, the event feels more like a marketing showcase than a championship. This ad price is actually almost a million more than it was in 2024, which was a little over $7 million [16]. Every aspect of the broadcast, from the pregame coverage to the trophy presentation, is laced with corporate messaging, leaving little room for organic fan engagement. The focus on profit has led to constant brand integration, diluting the authenticity of the Super Bowl experience. Instead of fostering an environment where fans can immerse themselves, they are bombarded with product placements and promotional tie-ins that take precedence over the actual competition. One attendee, an investor named Judy Abad who has attended on business in years past, found that she was “surrounded by corporate employees looking to schmooze” and it seemed less like a “celebratory game and more like a networking event.” All of the food was incredibly expensive and she felt “ripped off.” Many attending were solely looking for “getting invites to the best parties, scoring the coolest swag and spotting the most famous celebrities. ‘So much of it is for status — a ‘see and be seen’ mentality.’”[17] This level of commercialization distracts from the excitement of the sport and makes the event more like a spectacle than a real sporting event. With a large emphasis on the commercial and superficial aspects of the kind of people who attend these games (which are not regular fans due to lack of accessibility), the event becomes less about the community of football and more about the overly capitalistic greed of America’s most prominent companies. The NFL works with big sponsors such as PepsiCo and big artists in order to reach a compromise of brand visibility, engagement with the fans, and artist exposure. [18] This compromise results in a dumbed down engagement while trying to attract those who are not interested in the actual sport. While most Americans are still going to watch the Super Bowl, constant commercialization dilutes the passion that has long defined football, making it harder for fans to connect with the event on a deeper level. As more attention is placed on branding and sponsorships rather than the game itself, the Super Bowl increasingly feels less like a championship and more like a money-making venture controlled by the highest bidders.

The Super Bowl has become an inaccessible, corporate-driven event. High ticket prices and limited availability disconnect fans, and excessive commercialization replaces passion with profit. If this trend continues, the Super Bowl risks losing its essence as a unifying celebration of football. Without meaningful efforts to restore accessibility and refocus on the game itself, the event may continue to alienate the very fan base that helped build its prestige. The NFL must recognize that while revenue generation is important, maintaining the integrity of the sport and ensuring that fans remain at the heart of the Super Bowl experience is crucial to preserving its legacy as a premier sporting event. By shifting focus back to the fans and the game itself, the NFL has the opportunity to reclaim the Super Bowl’s status as a truly great sporting event rather than a corporate spectacle.

The root of all of the problems with the NFL’s commercialization lies in a lack of accessibility for fans to acquire tickets. Since the ticket prices are so high and the seating is so low, the only ones who can make it into the stadium are those who have ludicrous amounts of money to pay the scalpers or have connections. Many of these people, however, do not care for the game and only attend for clout and networking. Due to this, there is a desire to entertain the many at the stadium and away who are not fans but have power and wealth. This leads to the incessant branding, advertisements, and distractions to keep them engaged. The NFL’s lack of regulation on the resale market (which is run by an official partner of the NFL) and lack of seating has allowed the Super Bowl to become increasingly commercialized. The NFL then seeks to pander to viewers who do not care about the game as well as their sponsors to increase profits, which serves as a detriment to the game. Boosting and stabilizing the ticket market will allow more fans in the stadium and remove much of the corporate influence from the stands. This should affect the way the NFL conducts its business in the stadium by making it more consumer friendly and engaging with its fans. Overall, the constant commercialization of the Super Bowl has been a result of a lack of policy, and in order to return the sport to the fans, the NFL needs to pay attention to its most loyal supporters and create policy with their interests in mind.

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Image via Pexels Free Photos

Works Cited

[1] Olympics.com. “Welcome to the Ancient Olympic Games.” Olympics.com. Accessed February 13, 2025. https://www.olympics.com/ioc/ancient-olympic-games 

[2] Slingland, Jack. “History of Super Bowl Ticket Prices.” TickPick.com, February 5, 2025. https://www.tickpick.com/blog/history-of-super-bowl-ticket-prices/. 

[3] Bailey, Analis. “The Average Ticket Price for the 2024 NBA Finals Is $1,459 on Viv Seats.” Axios.com, June 6, 2024. https://www.axios.com/2024/06/06/nba-finals-tickets-price-2024.  

[4] Cerullo, Megan. “Want 2024 World Series Tickets? Here’s How Much They Cost.” CBS News, October 25, 2024. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/2024-world-series-dodgers-yankees-ticket-prices/.  

[5] Reed, Eric, and Kirk O’Neil. “History of Super Bowl Ticket Prices – Thestreet.” TheStreet.com, February 11, 2022. https://www.thestreet.com/sports/history-of-super-bowl-ticket-prices  

[6] Ticketmaster. “Super Bowl LIX Tickets – Feb 11, 2025 New Orleans, LA.” Ticketmaster. Accessed February 13, 2025. https://www.ticketmaster.com/superbowl. 

[7] Reuters. “Everything You Need to Know About the 2025 Super Bowl | Reuters.” Reuters, January 28, 2025. https://www.reuters.com/sports/nfl/everything-you-need-know-about-2025-super-bowl-2025-01-28/. 

[8] Reuters. “Super Bowl Ticket Demand for Chiefs-Eagles Highest in Years on StubHub | Reuters.” Reuters.com, January 29, 2025. https://www.reuters.com/sports/nfl/super-bowl-ticket-demand-chiefs-eagles-highest-years-stubhub-2025-01-29/ 

[9] Badenhausen, Kurt. “NFL Remains Sponsorship Champ with $1.9B during 2022 Season.” Sportico.com, February 6, 2023. https://www.sportico.com/business/sponsorship/2023/nfl-sponsorship-record-billion-2022-1234708631/. 

[10] Nfl. “NFL Completes Long-Term Media Distribution Agreements through 2033 Season.” NFL.com, February 28, 2023. https://www.nfl.com/news/nfl-completes-long-term-media-distribution-agreements-through-2033-season

[11] Settembre, Jeanette, and Lydia Moynihan. “Backstage with Diplo, $1M to Party with Shaq: How the Rich Do the Super Bowl.” New York Post, February 7, 2025. https://nypost.com/2025/02/06/entertainment/1m-to-party-with-shaq-how-the-rich-do-the-super-bowl/. 

[12] Schulz, Matt. “2025 Super Bowl Spending Report.” Edited by Dan Shepard. LendingTree, January 27, 2025. https://www.lendingtree.com/credit-cards/study/super-bowl-spending/. 

[13] Vivvix. “Super Bowl 53 Advertising: By the Numbers.” Vivvix, March 17, 2023. https://www.vivvix.com/blog/super-bowl-53-advertising-by-the-numbers. 

[14] Miller, Ryan. “How Long Is Halftime at the Super Bowl? Length of Halftime and Kendrick Lamar Show.” Democrat and Chronicle, February 9, 2025. https://www.democratandchronicle.com/story/sports/football/nfl/2025/02/09/super-bowl-2025-how-long-halftime-minutes-kendrick-lamar-performance/78342615007/. 

[15] Divers, Megan. “How Much Do Super Bowl Halftime Show Performers Get Paid? | Wcnc.Com.” WCNC Charlotte, February 9, 2025. https://www.wcnc.com/article/sports/nfl/superbowl/kendrick-lamar-super-bowl-halftime-performer-pay-2025/507-3f97b427-d354-40b8-8833-cc2d4a0945ce. 

[16] Lee, Anne Marie. “How Much Do 2025 Super Bowl Commercials Cost? Here’s the Price Tag on Ads This Year.” Edited by Alain Sherter. CBS News, February 12, 2025. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/how-much-do-2025-super-bowl-commercials-cost-heres-the-price-tag-on-ads-this-year/. 

[17] Kaur, Harmeet, and Scottie Andrew. “Is Going to the Super Bowl Worth It? Fans Are Mixed.” CNN, February 12, 2024. https://edition.cnn.com/2024/02/10/us/super-bowl-going-in-person-cec/index.html. 

[18] Sullivan, Kelsey. “Super Bowl Halftime: Where Advertising, NFL Ambitions and Superstar Talent Collide.” Zappi, November 21, 2024. https://www.zappi.io/web/blog/super-bowl-halftime-where-advertising-nfl-ambitions-and-superstar-talent/.