Packers tickets will be cheap for rest of year, except for game in Chicago

Green Bay Press Gazette

GREEN BAY – Diane Stark would not let a ticket snafu keep her from seeing the Green Bay Packers play the New England Patriots.

But her experience at Foxborough on Nov. 4 serves up a healthy reminder of what can go wrong when buying tickets on the secondary market and the pitfalls of electronic ticketing.

The Phoenix resident and her party bought four tickets through CheapTickets.com, which, as it was told to her, used a third party to provide the electronic bar code that validated the tickets. Therein were planted the seeds of disaster.

When Stark and her party arrived at the game, they found the bar codes would not work and CheapTickets couldn't fix the problem.

She paid CheapTickets $1,600 for four tickets. She was able to buy three tickets at the stadium by going to StubHub at a cost of $2,810, including fees.

CheapTickets honored its guarantee to refund 150 percent of the cost of the tickets. Unfortunately, the last-minute cost of the replacement tickets exceeded the payback by more than $400. And in the end, one of their party didn't get into the game.

Having traveled from Phoenix, they weren't in the mood to be denied their quest to see the Packers play in a new stadium every year.

"If we don't get in, it's going to be seven more years before they play in New England. We needed to get into that game," Stark said.

Stark said CheapTickets told her they severed ties with the bar code provider, but for her part, she's going to consider NFL Exchange or another provider for future purchases.

Fans are advised to understand the terms of transactions, buy tickets using a credit card and deal with a broker that is a member of the National Association of Ticket Brokers or which has a proven track record and offers a money-back guarantee, among other protections.

As for the remainder of the Packers' season, fans will find three of the last four games affordable.

The lowest average get-in price for the Atlanta Falcons and Detroit Lions games at Lambeau Field and the New York Jets at MetLife Stadium come in this week at $80 or less, and they could well continue to fall as the season winds up. Especially if the Packers continue to play poorly.

According to TickPick, the average listing price for Sunday’s game against the Falcons at Lambeau Field dropped more than 10 percent after the loss to the Arizona Cardinals – from $240 to $215. The team’s disappointing season overall caused a 32 percent drop in average listing price for Packers home games since the start of the season. Green Bay’s average listing price started at $327 and now is $223.

The game in Chicago on Dec. 16 remains costly at $249 lowest average get-in price; that's the cost of playing a first-place team in its home stadium.

For our weekly look at Packers tickets prices, we surveyed eight secondary-market websites, including Event USA, NFL Ticket Exchange, StubHub, TickPick, Ticket King, Titletown Tickets and Tours, SeatGeek and VividSeats. Note that ticket brokers can add fees on top of prices listed here, so actual costs might be higher.

Dec. 9, noon, Atlanta Falcons, Lambeau Field, Fox

Face-price range (not including premium seating): $109-$136
Average lowest seat: $64
Range of lowest seat: $50-$135

Dec. 16, noon, Chicago Bears, Soldier Field, Fox

Face-price range (not including premium seating): N/A
Average lowest seat: $249
Range of lowest seat: $199-$329

Dec. 23, noon, New York Jets, MetLife Stadium, Fox

Face-price range (not including premium seating): N/A
Average lowest seat: $80
Range of lowest seat: $66-$119

Dec. 30, noon, Detroit Lions, Lambeau Field, Fox

Face-price range (not including premium seating): $109-$136
Average lowest seat: $74
Range of lowest seat: $60-$110