Tampa Super Bowl tickets on sale for up to $24,301

With the teams for Super Bowl 55 decided, a time-honored tradition of the NFL postseason is upon us: Super Bowl ticket-price sticker shock.

Want to be there when the Tampa Bay Buccaneers make history on their home field against the Kansas City Chiefs? As of this morning , a ticket to the Feb. 7 game at Raymond James Stadium costs a minimum of $8,550. That price, however, requires you to buy a package of four tickets priced at $34,200 total — before fees.

Fees? For the four-ticket package through NFL On Location Experiences (the league’s “official hospitality partner”) you’re looking at an additional $6,156. That means you can be in the stands with three friends for $40,356, or $10,089 each.

You’ll be sitting in section 318, which is the upper level corner.

Only need two tickets? That will be $9,450 each, plus fees, for similar seats, and a total of $22,302.

Those packages, however, will also get you “virtual experiences with NFL legends” before and after the game, and a commemorative Chiefs or Bucs gift. They also come with a gift card for concessions.

You can, of course, spend far more on tickets to the Big Game. For $72,903 — $24,301 per ticket — you can get a package of three tickets in section 135, in the lower level near the 50-yard line. The 18 percent service fee brings that package to $86,025.54 total.

Resale sites, such as StubHub and Vivid Seats, listed some tickets at more than double that by late Monday morning. Two tickets together in section 136, row H, were listed for $61,000 each, before fees.

If you’d prefer some privacy and cushier seats, the Suite Experience Group, a reseller for suites, has several listed from $305,000 to $475,000. They include a food and alcohol catering package.

The $475,000 suite for 20 people is on the lower level and includes 12 theater-style stadium seats, four bar stools and four standing room tickets. It’s equipped with a kitchenette and multiple high-definition TVs.

Don’t forget to tack on a minimum of $150 to park at Raymond James Stadium, according to Ticketmaster.com, if you’re planning to drive.

The high prices reflect resale markups on the actual face value of Super Bowl Tickets, which NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said ranges from a mere $950 for a seat in the upper corners to only $3,600 for the best lower-level seats.

But “the average Super Bowl Ticket ticket changes hands four times,” McCarthy said. “The NFL will establish the face value, but when it’s resold three additional times, you’ll see it go higher and higher.”

The best and likely only way to snag a Super Bowl ticket at that lower face value is to be a season ticket holder. The Buccaneers and Chiefs will receive about 40 percent of all Super Bowl tickets, distributing some to sponsors and VIPs and making the rest available to fans.

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Buccaneers season ticket holders were automatically placed in a drawing for the right to purchase two Super Bowl tickets at face value. That drawing happens “on or around” Wednesday, according to an email sent to season ticket members, and winners will have 24 hours to decide.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the NFL capped fan attendance at Raymond James Stadium stadium at only 24,700, with 7,500 of those tickets going to vaccinated health care workers for free. The stadium normally holds around 66,000 fans.

The reduced capacity combined with the unique situation of a home team playing host to the Super Bowl, said Vivid Seats spokesman Stephen Spiewak, is creating “unprecedented demand.”

The website, which connects ticket resellers and buyers, published data showing that the average sale price for tickets for Super Bowl 55 through today is $14,110. That’s more than double the average sale price during a comparable time period before Super Bowl 54 in Miami, when average sale price was $5,511.

“Keep in mind, this is the second straight year the Chiefs are playing in the Super Bowl,” he said. “Had the Bills made it this year, demand might be even higher.”

A heat map of traffic to vividseats.com’s Super Bowl tickets page over the past five days shows the site saw more visitors from Florida than any other state.

The 7,500 tickets being distributed to health care workers who’ve received both doses of the COVID-19 vaccine are valued at more than $18 million, McCarthy, the NFL spokesman, said. Those workers will also be treated to a private concert headlined by Miley Cyrus. “We’re using the world’s largest stage to recognize and honor them and also to promote vaccines and healthy practices.”

Those free, non-transferable tickets will be distributed digitally through an app, McCarthy said, and security will be on the lookout to ensure that none of them are sold.

The NFL was not involved in choosing which specific health care workers will receive tickets, but provided them to the Tampa Bay area’s six largest hospital systems — Tampa General Hospital, Bayfront, BayCare, HCA, Advent Health and Moffitt — to distribute to their employees as they saw fit.

“I believe they did it at random,” McCarthy said. “Those health care workers should know this week if they’re going.”

Today was the deadline for health care workers attending the game to have received their second dose.

You don’t have to go to the game in person to spend an extravagant amount of money on the Super Bowl in Tampa Bay. The Innisbrook Golf Resort in Palm Harbor on Monday began promoting a $19,950 “ultimate viewing party” for four, including a presidential suite, golf on the resort’s Copperhead course, transportation in a vintage Rolls Royce limousine and a private, catered game-day viewing setup with team decor and a bartender for the night, among other luxuries.