Expect a large contingent of Browns fans at Arrowhead Stadium for the game.
The Kansas City Chiefs are set to host the Cleveland Browns during their divisional round playoff game and tickets are in high demand.
The decision-makers in Kansas City don’t plan to alter the course when it comes to their current allotment of tickets. Right now, Arrowhead Stadium’s capacity is capped at right around 17,000 as it has been all season long. The team won’t be releasing any more tickets for this game or the AFC Championship Game if the Chiefs are to host it. That means there is already a limited supply of tickets available to the general public.
According to TicketIQ’s Jesse Lawrence, the average price on the secondary market for tickets to this weekend’s game is $862.00 and rising. That’s over double the price of any other home playoff game since the 2010 season. The lack of inventory and reduced capacity is certainly driving up the prices of these tickets, but there’s also another factor playing a part.
Chiefs team president Mark Donovan says that Browns fans are driving the secondary market.
“When we confirmed we’d be hosting playoff games, we started talking about how there were teams that hadn’t been in the playoffs for a long time, much like we were a few years ago,” Donovan said. “When you get in, they’re going to do everything they possibly can to be here so, we’ve got to be prepared for that. I think that will affect prices this week on the secondary market because Cleveland is one of those teams with a pent-up demand, especially with the win they had [against the Steelers], a lot of people get excited to get on that bandwagon and be here and be part of this.”
It’s been 18 years since the Browns’ last playoff game and 25 years ago since they last won a playoff game. Fans weren’t allowed at Heinz field for the game against the Steelers, so this is their first actual opportunity to see the Browns play in the postseason.
Obviously, the initial cause for concern is that Cleveland’s fan base might outnumber Chiefs fans in their own stadium. The Arrowhead Stadium experience is quite different when there are 17,000 fans than it is with 75,000. Why would Kansas City fans pay more than double the prices of regular playoff tickets for that experience?
The good news is that Donovan confirmed a sellout of the Chiefs’ ticket allotment reserved for their Season Ticket Members. There was also some data to suggest that those fans intend to hang onto those tickets and attend the game.
“What we did was we took all of the available tickets and made them available to our Season Ticket Members,” Donovan said. “We sold out of our entire allotment for the most part… We have holds for the visiting team, we have holds for the league, so there will be tickets sort of trickling back out here as those are used or not used… An interesting little tidbit to that was about 40% of those sales were from our Season Ticket Members who hadn’t attended a game yet this year. When you think about that, those are fans who said, ‘We’re going to take the year off. We’re going to push to next year. We’re going to be safe and watch from home but still be a part of it, still be committed to the team.’ Forty percent of those tickets went to people who hadn’t been to a game. I think it also points to the safety protocols put in place and the belief that you can come and be safe here at Arrowhead.”
Ultimately, the business side seems to be operating under the assumption that Chiefs Kingdom is still very passionate about their team, that they trust the protocols in place and that they’ll be in the building to support on Sunday despite those high ticket prices.
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