This study examines the determinants of regular season National Football League (NFL) ticket prices on the secondary, or resale, market. Prices in the secondary market are dynamic and thus particularly useful for evaluating the demand for live NFL contests. A rich dataset is employed that contains information about all transactions conducted by a prominent ticketing site during a full NFL season and allows for a comprehensive investigation of the components of demand in this market. Included in the analysis is a first look at the demand for different seating locations within the stadium. The revealed determinants of demand for resale tickets were largely consistent with studies of the primary market; however, there are notable differences in spectators’ preferences for contest characteristics and uncertainty of outcome across the seating categories. The evidence also suggests that while hometown fans are the primary participants, visiting teams are likely active in the resale market.
This article investigates own-price elasticity of demand in the secondary (resale) market for National Football League (NFL) tickets. The sample is comprised of actual market transactions (prices and quantities exchanged) and an instrumental variable estimation method is employed. Price elasticity is estimated for the stadium as a whole as well as separately for the upper and lower venue levels and for four primary seat location categories within the venue. The results indicate that, counter to most estimates of price elasticity in the primary market, the secondary market for NFL tickets is characterized by elastic demand and that elasticity varies across different levels of seat quality.
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