Photo by Richard Smith, Stadium Journey
The 2024 NFL season is upon us, with the season having kicked off on Thursday, September 5th – it’s an annual rite of passage for fans to plan out their season, look at schedules, book trips, and shop for tickets.
However, it’s also a reality that the current state of economics in the country is due to inflation. In the past decade, the cost of attending NFL games has skyrocketed, outpacing even the rate of inflation in most teams’ home markets.
This phenomenon, known by economists in the entertainment sector as “funflation”, was recently analyzed by the experts at Freebets.com. Tracking ticket costs and food and beverage pricing among other metrics for the past 10 years, the results found that:
• NFL attendance costs have risen at 142% of the rate of inflation since 2015.
• The average cost of attending an NFL game increased by 44% from 2015 to 2024, which significantly outpaces general inflation of 31% during the same period.
• NFL teams who have most increased the overall price of attendance include the Las Vegas Raiders (+129%), Cleveland Browns (+112%), and Tampa Bay Buccaneers (+88%).
At the other end of the spectrum, the New York Jets (+5%), Dallas Cowboys (+8%), and New York Giants (+14%) have gone against the trend of overinflated costs – while their costs have gone up, they are significantly lower than most teams in the NFL.
However, in the decade that was analyzed, the gap in prices between general admission and premium tickets has continued to widen; this seems to indicate a growing disparity between the types of game experiences that fans can take part in.
Many factors have contributed to the rising costs, which at some point could challenge the average fan’s ability to attend games in person. However, attendance rates show no sign of slowing down in the interim, proving the NFL is still the king of pro sports in the United States.
Click this link to read the full report from Freebets.com.
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Follow Eric Moreno's Stadium Journey on Twitter at @EricMoreno6477.
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