The last time the Super Bowl was held at the Arizona Cardinals’ home stadium, the average ticket price on the secondary market inched toward $10,000. 

Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs fans will pay close to the same price now, according to leading ticket websites. The average resale price hovered around $9,000 each on Monday. 

The cheapest seats currently available — less than $7,000 — are below prices at this point for the last two Super Bowls.

The Patriots-Seahawks Super Bowl XLIX thriller in 2015 is the most expensive NFL title game on record and the first where tickets rose considerably a day or two after the conference championship games. 

• Brokers sold tickets to consumers thinking ticket inventory would match past Super Bowls.
• When those tickets didn’t hit the market, brokers scrambled to buy the few available to fulfill promises to customers. 
• Prices were double what they were just a week prior, and climbed from there. 

Could There be a Repeat?

TicketIQ’s Jesse Lawrence says the NFL’s management of the digital marketplace makes a 2015 redo impossible. 

“The 2015 blowup was a market-short bet made by brokers, and the resulting short squeeze, that was only possible in the absence of centralized pricing and inventory management.”

The world’s biggest and most popular soccer league isn’t backing away from crypto.

The Premier League is expanding its digital footprint with a four-year, exclusive deal with blockchain-based fantasy soccer game Sorare.

As part of the agreement, Sorare players can buy and use officially licensed digital cards representing Premier League players, and the Premier League has an option to take an equity stake in the game.

Financial terms of the deal weren’t disclosed.

• Sky Sports reported in October — when a potential transaction was first mentioned — that the multiyear deal is around $37 million annually.
• The Financial Times reported the deal is worth “tens of millions of pounds a year,” with each year’s final payment based on performance. 

Sorare, which is reportedly the third-biggest NFT collection worldwide and processes around $1 million of transactions in a 24-hour period, was last valued at $4.3 billion in 2021 following a $680 million funding round led by Softbank.

Sticking With Sports

Unlike other crypto companies, Sorare — which counts Kylian Mbappe, Lionel Messi, and Serena Williams as shareholders — hasn’t had to back away from sports deals as it focuses on intellectual property over sponsorships.

Last year, it struck deals with Major League Soccer, Major League Baseball, and the National Basketball Association. 

Exchanges for Sorare totaled $500 million in 2022 — up from $270 million in 2021.

Years before it enters the racing series, Audi is making a major commitment to Formula 1.

Sauber announced that the Volkswagen-owned company bought a minority stake in the Swiss car brand in January, calling it “an important milestone on the way to Audi’s entry in Formula One, scheduled for 2026.” 

The Sauber Group will be Audi’s “strategic partner.”

• Audi will supply the power units for the team, starting in 2026.
• In 2026, engine regulations will change to nearly triple the output from electrical sources to 350 kW and use 100% sustainable fuels from non-food plant sources, municipal waste, or carbon capture.
• Sauber currently races under the Alfa Romeo name via a sponsorship deal that expires after the upcoming season.

Sauber’s team hasn’t been competitive in recent years: It last finished in the top half of the F1 constructors’ championship in 2012, and its most recent top-three finish was in 2008.

Infrastructure Expansion

Audi’s commitment to F1 goes beyond buying into Sauber. 

In December, the company announced it’s expanding its facility in Neuberg, outside Frankfurt, by adding a roughly 10,000 square-foot building focused on the F1 team. The new building will include test benches for developing the racing team’s power unit.