When your team hasn’t qualified for the NFL playoffs in 17 seasons, as was the case for the Buffalo Bills, it means that a generation of Buffalo fans has grown unaccustomed to their team playing in the postseason. That all changed when Andy Dalton found Tyler Boyd for a 49-yard touchdown strike on a miraculous fourth-and-12 play, paving the way for the Bills (9-7) to secure the number 6 seed in the AFC.
Buffalo travels to face number 3 seed, the AFC South divisional champion Jacksonville Jaguars, at 1:05 p.m. Sunday at EverBank Field in one Wild Card game. If you’re a Bills fan hoping to cheer on your team in person, you had better brace for sticker-shock.
Buffalo fans desperate to see postseason football have been driving up the average ticket price for Sunday’s Wild Card game. As of Wednesday afternoon, the cheapest price for a pair of standing room-only seats on StubHub was $545, a figure that rose to $585.80 for two seats high atop Upper Section 441.
If you received an above-average Christmas bonus, or if you won the lottery recently, the most expensive Bills/Jaguars tickets on StubHub would run you $10,082.60 for a pair of tickets in the US Assure Club 8 section. By comparison, for that price tag you could purchase 17 season tickets in my section (123) for all Bills home games at New Era Field for the 2018 season. My season tickets cost $590 for two preseason and eight regular-season games.
For comparison’s sake, for $105.80, you could purchase two tickets in Upper Red View Section 330 for Saturday’s Wild Card clash in Kansas City between the Chiefs and the Tennessee Titans. Fans could spend $183.80 to watch Saturday night’s clash in Los Angeles between the Rams and the Atlanta Falcons from Upper Corner 1L; or for $204.20, you could witness the Carolina Panthers play the New Orleans Saints from Terrace Corner 617.
Remember those $6 Bills/Colts tickets on StubHub. Media had a good laugh at that. Go on StubHub now and look at JAX/BUF prices. Those aren't Jags fans driving the market. Compare that to other #WildCardWeekend games pic.twitter.com/n9z7OZt7iQ
— Harry Kozlowski (@PromoTheRobot) January 2, 2018
If you are searching for cheaper tickets, the Jaguars are releasing a block of unused inventory at 3 p.m. Eastern on Thursday. While buyers are limited to two tickets, they will be selling at face value and can be purchased on http://www.jaguars.com/playoffs/
According to Vivid Seats, an online ticket marketplace, 20% of the ZIP codes used purchasing resale tickets to the game are from New York, which doesn’t even take into account the far-flung Bills fans buying tickets from elsewhere.
For Bills fans hungry to see their team in the playoffs (and not sure when their next playoff game will come), the question is: how much are you willing to pay to witness your beloved Buffalo Bills in a playoff football game?