The highly anticipated — not to mention exorbitant — game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles is just days away. This year, even if you’re watching the championship game at home on FOX Sports, anticipate shelling out even more money thanks to inflation — and the proliferation of betting, according to experts.
The cost of getting to the big game has surged in recent days with one of the most expensive round-trip flights notching over $6,000 as of Tuesday.
Add that to the cost of a hotel stay in Phoenix. Ariz. and coveted Super Bowl tickets, and you’re facing quite a hefty bill.
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However, even if you plan to stay home, the costs for Super Bowl-related expenses – such as food for a Super Bowl party – are estimated to add up fairly quickly.
The cost of the Super Bowl, from commercials, last minute flights to food costs, broken down:
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As of Tuesday, the national average for round trip tickets to Phoenix was $500, according to the latest data from travel app Hopper.
Round trip flights from Philadelphia, Pa. to Phoenix were averaging $664 while round-trip flights from Kansas City, Mo. to Phoenix were averaging $466.
The most expensive round-trip flight from Philadelphia, leaving Saturday and returning Tuesday, was $5,420. However, from Friday to Monday, it reached $6,188 for a round-trip.
As of Tuesday, the most expensive round-trip from Kansas City to Phoenix, leaving Saturday and returning Tuesday, was $2,110. For Friday to Monday, the most expensive round-trip was $3,101, according to Hopper data.
As of Feb. 4, hotel stays in the Phoenix metropolitan area were averaging $600 per night.
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As of Feb. 4, ticket prices on Vivid Seats were averaging $6,434, according to Vivid Seats’ Big Game data. Meanwhile, the best “get-in” deal was sitting at about $4,438.
However, under Ticketmaster’s best seats section, some tickets are going for upward of $40,000. That’s per seat.
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A recent LendingTree survey revealed that consumers will spend $115 on game-related expenses this year, a 31% jump from 2022.
“The biggest overall reason for spending increases is likely pretty simple. It’s all about inflation,” LendingTree chief credit analyst Matt Schultz told FOX Business.
According to LendingTree’s recent report, over half of Americans plan to watch from home but 20% plan to invite people over. That’s an 82% increase from 11% reported last year.
However, even if you plant to watch the game with just your family in front of a plate of wings, it’ll still cost you more.
“The cost of everything seems to be rising by the day, so it shouldn’t be too surprising that spending on Super Bowl-related expenses is going up, too,” Schultz said.
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Even with the rise in costs, including groceries which jumped 11.8% in December, consumers aren’t likely to pull back on spending for the big day.
“The Super Bowl isn’t just about the game. It’s basically a national day of celebration, and people aren’t going to give up throwing parties and watching the game with their friends just because things have gotten more expensive,” Schultz said, adding that “they’ll make sacrifices in other parts of life instead.”
However, this underscores how society is continuing to embrace holidays and major events now more than ever to make up for years past.
“We’ve seen cases of people doing up holidays and other events in a big way to make up for how crummy the previous couple of years have been, and this seems like another example of that,” according to Schultz.
On top of that, more consumers are also willing to spend more on betting.
Nearly 40% of Americans are expected to make some type of wager this year, up 30% from last year. Most people will keep the betting between family and friends but LendingTree data shows that 60% of millennials will bet on the big game via apps or websites.
Mark Evans, FOX Sports executive vice president of ad sales, said most adds fetched between $6 million and $7 million for a 30-second spot. However, a few went for more than $7 million for a 30-second spot.
Anheuser-Busch remains the biggest advertiser with three minutes of national airtime. The beverage giant gave up its deal to be the exclusive alcohol advertiser this year, so Heineken, Diageo, Remy Martin and Molson Coors are also in the game.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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