Tickets: Jets, Giants have steepest NFL increases

[September 18, 2010]  NEW YORK (AP) -- It's costing more to watch the NFL in person this season, especially for fans of the Giants and Jets.

The Team Marketing Report said Friday that average ticket prices for NFL games increased 4.5 percent this year to $76.47, up from a 3.9 percent hike last season.

The New York teams had the steepest increases after moving into the New Meadowlands Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J.

Jets non-premium tickets went up 31.8 percent to $114.64 on average, and the Giants rose 26 percent to $111.69. New Orleans raised its average 20.5 percent to $74.99 after winning the Super Bowl.

New England's prices stayed flat, but it still had the highest average cost -- $117.84. Dallas is fourth at $110.20, also with no increase.

Cleveland has the lowest average ticket price at $54.51, a drop of 0.3 percent. Twenty-one of the 32 teams kept their average ticket cost the same or lowered it.

Among premium seats, the Patriots also were first at $566.67, followed by the Giants ($464.75), Chicago Bears ($372), Cowboys ($340), Tampa Bay Buccaneers ($295) and Jets ($287.41).

There were pockets of empty club seats at the Meadowlands for the first regular-season home games of the Giants and Jets -- but the games were not blacked out in local markets because premium seats aren't included when the NFL counts sellouts for blackout purposes.

The NFL's premium average was $238.94, an increase of 5.6 percent.

Eric Grubman, NFL executive vice president for business ventures, said this month that season ticket sales declined for the third year in a row and will be down between 1 percent and 2 percent.

In comparison, the average non-premium ticket for Major League Baseball was up 1.5 percent to $26.74 this year. The average was $48.90 last season in the NBA and $51.27 in the NHL.

[Associated Press; By RONALD BLUM]

Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.