Is Chiefs fatigue setting in with fans? The early ticket resale market for Super Bowl LIX suggests that’s at least partially the case. 

As Kansas City clinched Sunday a fifth Super Bowl trip in six seasons, low-end, get-in pricing for the Feb. 9 game in New Orleans hovered around $4,600 per ticket on multiple markets early Monday. That is down sharply from a comparable, entry-level figure of more than $7,000 at this point before last year’s Super Bowl in Las Vegas, which ultimately reached record-setting levels, and nearly $6,000 for this same matchup two years ago in Glendale, Ariz. 

Several factors are leading the market to react differently this time. Not only is the matchup this time the same as Super Bowl LVII, but the peak football seating capacity of more than 74,000 for the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans is materially larger than the figures for either Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas or State Farm Stadium in Arizona—both of which hovered around 65,000. 

While there are more tickets available this year, there are also comparatively fewer available flights and hotel rooms, with pricing for travel and hospitality to and in New Orleans reaching record levels for that market—long a popular tourist destination. As a result, overall fan costs to attend the Super Bowl could still be higher this year. 

While New Orleans is indeed an in-demand market, it’s also hosting a Super Bowl for a record-tying 11th time. That, in turn, creates a very different dynamic than the debut iteration in Las Vegas last year, and one that returns the demand factors more to the competing teams. 

Managed Market

As has been the case for the last several years, the Endeavor-owned On Location plays a dominant role in the overall Super Bowl ticket resale market, thanks to its status as the NFL’s official hospitality provider. The role allows On Location to control how and when much of the total ticket inventory becomes available, and very little of that ultimately reaches the primary market at face value. That’s also created less dramatic market shifts during the two weeks between the conference championship games and the Super Bowl. 

The company is also bundling Super Bowl tickets with a variety of fan experiences, including NFL legend meet-and-greets, tailgate parties, exclusive merchandise, and travel accommodations, and its pricing currently starts at $6,600 per person. 

Endeavor is in the process of shifting On Location to TKO Group Holdings, also majority-controlled by Endeavor. The corporate shift consolidates the company’s key sports assets into a single, publicly traded company. 

The Cowboys introduced new head coach Brian Schottenheimer to the media Monday afternoon, closing the loop on a dramatic weeks-long saga surrounding the most valuable franchise in professional sports.

Schottenheimer has been in Dallas since 2022, and for the past two seasons was the offensive coordinator—but not the play-caller—under Mike McCarthy, who was fired on Jan. 13, eight days after the NFL’s regular season ended. McCarthy’s five-year contract expired, and Cowboys owner and GM Jerry Jones ultimately decided to search for a new coach.

“This is as big a risk as you could take,” Jones said Monday during an 11-minute response to the first question of the press conference. The Cowboys are giving a four-year contract to Schottenheimer, the son of the late Marty Schottenheimer (who compiled 200 wins in 327 regular-season games for four different teams), who has no head coaching experience himself.

Time to Shine

Jones sought to push back against several perceived negative narratives about the coaching search, including its length and how many candidates were considered. “This was a thorough, thorough process,” he said.

While teams like the Bears and Jets requested interviews with more than a dozen coaching candidates, the Cowboys interviewed three people outside of Schottenheimer (Seahawks assistant head coach Leslie Frazier, former Jets coach Robert Saleh, and Eagles offensive coordinator Kellen Moore, who was OC in Dallas before Schottenheimer).

“It’s ridiculous to think that you can make a decision to coach the Cowboys relative to the number of interviews that you might have,” Jones said.

Jones also spoke with Colorado head coach Deion Sanders but did not conduct an official interview with the Pro Football Hall of Famer who won Super Bowl XXX as a member of the Cowboys. Jones noted he had conversations with longtime Seahawks coach Pete Carroll—who fired Schottenheimer in 2021—and Steve Spurrier, but it turns out those discussions were more about gathering intel on Schottenheimer. 

Moving Forward

Both Jones and Schottenheimer expressed their appreciation for McCarthy, who interviewed with the Bears and remains a candidate for the Saints coaching vacancy, along with Moore (the Saints were reportedly planning to potentially fly to Philadelphia on Monday to meet with him).

“McCarthy left some good stuff here,” Jones said. “One of them was Brian. … It was time for a change.”

Jones indicated he wanted Schottenheimer to call plays, which likely wouldn’t have been the case had McCarthy remained coach.

Mets owner Steve Cohen, already well known for wearing his heart on his sleeve in addition to his league-leading wealth, peeled back the curtain on the difficult state of the club’s negotiations with free-agent first baseman Pete Alonso—revealing just how fraught the ongoing talks have been.

Cohen, speaking last weekend at the club’s Amazin’ Day fan fest, said the contract talks with Alonso and agent Scott Boras have been definitively “worse” than the path leading to the record-setting, $765 million deal last month with Juan Soto, also represented by Boras.

“This has been an exhausting conversation and negotiation,” said Cohen, whose $21.3 billion estimated net worth is the highest among MLB owners. “I mean, Soto was tough—this is worse. … I don’t like the structures that are being presented back to us. It’s highly asymmetric against us, and I feel strongly about it. I will never say no. There’s always the possibility [of Alonso returning to the Mets]. But the reality is we’re moving forward, and as we continue to bring in players, the reality is it becomes harder to fit Pete into what is a very expensive group of players we already have.”

Alonso has been a favorite among Mets fans since debuting with the team in 2019, but he is now highlighting a group of MLB stars still without a signed deal with spring training set to start in less than three weeks. 

The Mets’ current luxury-tax payroll of $288 million for 2025 ranks fourth in the league behind the Dodgers, Phillies, and Yankees. 

Boras defended his client and the negotiating conduct with the Mets, saying there has been nothing unusual for a player of Alonso’s stature. 

“Pete’s free-agent contract structure requests are identical to the standard and practices of other clubs who have signed similarly situated qualifying offer/All Star–level players,” he said. “Nothing different. Just established fairness standards.”