(This article will be updated with additional information as the NFL season progresses).
This guide is designed to assist fans who are traveling to the Super Bowl by a Philadelphia Eagles fan who has traveled to over a dozen Eagles away games and Super Bowl 57 in Arizona where the Eagles lost to the Chiefs.
We will cover the costs and activities at the Super Bowl, trying to make the trip as affordable and enjoyable as possible.
There are several major costs at the Super Bowl:
1. Transportation
2. Hotels
3. Car Rentals
4. The NFL experience
5. Super Bowl game Tickets
Next 3 Super Bowls:
2026 Santa Clara/San Francisco 49ers
2027 Los Angeles
2028 Atlanta
We will focus on being able to cancel your plans so if your favorite team does not make The Big Game you can cancel plans with no cost. I held off making a hotel reservation at the Comfort Suites just one mile from State Farm stadium until the Eagles had won the NFC Conference championship 2 weeks before the Super Bowl.
Had the Eagles lost, I would have canceled all of the plans.
1. Transportation
Super Bowl flights tend to cost more than the same flight one week before or after the Super Bowl. There isn't much you can do except to purchase your flights well ahead of time when you can save money and have your choice of flights.
Your flight can also be free.
You can join one or more flight reward programs and sign up for the accompanying credit card with a 50,000-80,000 point bonus after spending $3000. This might be enough points to cover 2 flights if you make reservations to San Francisco, New Orleans, or Atlanta well ahead of the Super Bowl.
Then, if your favorite team does not make it to the big game, you may be able to cancel the flight, get back your points, and wait until next year.
Make certain you keep the flight miles active.
If you happen to live close enough to drive to a Super game then target that game because you just made a much easier trip.
2. HOTELS
There are some useful money saving tips here especially if you want the option to cancel.
For the 2023 Super Bowl in Glendale, Arizona we got a room at the Comfort Suites hotel one mile from the Super Bowl stadium for about $195 a night.
Many hotels still allow you to cancel your room prior to the Big Game, so if you need that option, make plans very, very early before hotels fill up and rates increase and cancellation privileges are removed.
I made 5 reservations for the Arizona Super Bowl, getting a better and better deal each time. Each room was cancellable.
There are 2 hotel chains which take points for any room at only a small premium to the regular rate. So this is where you can get really cheap rooms.
Wyndam Hotels (Wyndham, La Quinta, Hawthorne) and Choice Privileges (Comfort Inn, Comfort Suites) may raise the points price a little for Super Bowl week. Here is how I got a Comfort Suites room with free breakfast for $195.
Normal Price for the room: $150
Super Bowl price: $699
Normal points price: 20,000
Super Bowl points price: 30,000
Normal cost per point: 1.00 cents
Discount cost per point: .065 cents
Normal price for room with points: $200
Super Bowl price for room with points: $300
Super Bowl price for room with points discount: $195
Look at that bottom line for the $699 Super Bowl room: $195 per night.
But all this takes some work.
Both Comfort Suites and Wyndham offer points at a discount several times a year. If you catch it at the right time you can see that we saved money not only by using points but also getting a discount on the points.
I purchased my points for the Comfort Suites during a points sale in October, helping to lower the overall cost. At the time, I could not even reserve a room yet with points. I checked the room availability every day to be certain that I could reserve a room if needed.
At the time, I had to wait until 100 days before the reservation (mid-November) before making a reservation with points.
Just make certain you can cancel the room if your favorite team does not make it to the Super Bowl.
THE NFL EXPERIENCE
Besides the game, the go-to event at the Super Bowl is The NFL Experience at a downtown convention center.
For Super Bowl 60 on February 8, tickets when on sale December 8th, 2 months before the Super Bowl.
September 8 10:00am: Visa Card pre-sale.
September 10 10am-: Public sale
At one time the NFL offered a version of a "fast pass" for the activities at the Super Bowl. We highly recommend this option if they still offer it.
SUPER BOWL TICKETS:
Everyone wants to know one thing: How much will a Super Bowl ticket cost me?
It is difficult to provide precise details on ticketing because there are many variables including:
Ticket reseller
Timing
Add-ons
Fees
However there are some long-term trends that can be useful. Let's break these down before offering some details in the future.
1. Super Bowl tickets may go on sale as early as November with add-on packages.
2. Regular tickets are released and available later.
3. Single tickets are available on the secondary markets at a later date.
4. Tickets become available in a trickle, with tickets being bought and sold daily.
5. We start close price tracking as soon as the 2 Super Bowl teams are decided.
6. Prices on Ticketmaster may start around $6000-$8000.
7. Prices fluctuate like the stock market over the next 2 weeks but slowly drop.
8. On the Thursday-Friday prior to the Super Bowl prices generally drop to around $3000 each.
9. On the day of the game tickets are still available in the $3000-$4000.
As we go along we generally watch Get-In-The-Door ticket prices. If you can afford $10.000+ for a seat between the 20 yards lines then you don't need to be reading this.
More details to be posted later...
