Ticket Prices Are Skyrocketing for Sports, Led by the High End

Taking the family to a ballgame is looking less like a casual outing and more like a luxury purchase. Ticketing platform Gametime tells Axios that average ticket prices across major US sporting events have surged well beyond inflation over the past decade, with the steepest increases showing up in the NFL and for high-end seats. After adjusting for inflation, NFL tickets sold on Gametime nearly tripled between 2015 and 2025, up 173%. College football tickets rose 119%, Major League Baseball 111%, the NBA 70%, the NHL 65%, and Major League Soccer 22%.

• The highest: At the top end, the numbers are eye-catching. Gametime's priciest ticket was a $35,165 Super Bowl club seat at midfield in 2024. Premium NBA tickets have topped $20,000 in each of the past two years, and MLB's high end hit $17,170. The trend coincides with a long-running shift toward smaller stadiums packed with more clubs, suites, and VIP entrances. The Kansas City Chiefs' proposed new stadium, for example, is expected to hold about 65,000 fans—roughly 15% fewer than Arrowhead—while emphasizing premium spaces.
• One team's response: Teams say they're not leaving budget-minded fans behind. The Kansas City Royals point to promotions such as Dollar Dog Night and the Fountain Pass and say their overall ticket increases have stayed below inflation since 2022. Yet the team's costliest Crown Club seats still sell quickest, a spokesperson said.

• Try this: Brian Berry, executive director of the Ticket Policy Forum, advises fans to consider waiting for resale prices to drop about a month after tickets first go on sale—though he warns that marquee matchups will remain costly. A Sports Fans Coalition analysis of more than 57 million tickets found resale buyers saved an average of 37% across leagues compared with face value. For the Super Bowl, Axios reports demand softened this week, but the average ticket is still running above $8,000.
• "You greedy ...": A fan revolt was successful nearly a decade ago in England, per the Athletic. After Liverpool announced ticket prices were rising from the equivalent of $13 to $110, roughly 10,000 fans walked out of a soccer match in the 77th minute, serenading the owners with "Enough is enough, you greedy b-------!" The team apologized, cut the increase, and even now the top price is about $82. On the other hand, when Nashville SC priced tickets for a regular-season match against Inter Miami in the hundreds of dollars, there was no name-calling. "I think people in this country, and in [U.S.] sports, are accepting that if you want the hottest ticket in town, it'll come at a price," a team executive said.