Patriots: ticket prices spike after Gillette Stadium 2020 capacity revealed
By Adam Weinrib
New England Patriots fans are clearly enthusiastic about the 2020 season, even if it’ll be hard to get a ticket.
Patriots fans are as passionate as ever entering a transition year in 2020, though there’s a major outside factor at play.
With Cam Newton under center, and Tom Brady taking his legacy to Florida, Pats Nation has been reinvigorated, even though they’ll tell you they believed just as much in Jarrett Stidham.
But if there’s going to be a season in 2020, and it’s going to feature fans in the stands, then the opportunity to cheer on the Patriots will only be available for a select few, and likely the wealthiest folks in the fanbase.
After it was announced that Gillette Stadium would only be accepting 20% of its normal capacity in 2020 if fans are permitted, and would be subject to further shrinking by state and local authorities, Patriots fans found themselves scrambling for the very few available tickets, driving prices through the roof.
#Patriots announced that their stadium capacity for this season – if fans are allowed to attend – would be about 20 percent of its total capacity per game. Tickets will be arranged in blocks of 10 seats or less, and face coverings will be required at all times inside the stadium.
— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) July 14, 2020
According to NBC Sports Boston, the secondary market inventory is now down by 97% (and has disappeared entirely, in some places), per TicketIQ. The average price of a ticket has now risen all the way to $591, a total increase of 39%.
And that’s, of course, assuming we have an NFL season, a proposition thrown very much in doubt on Sunday when many of the league’s stars teamed up to inform us they had very little faith in the league’s nonexistent health and safety protocols.
Sense a trend.... pic.twitter.com/KJQqo7nKSI
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) July 19, 2020
Patriots fans can breathe a slight sigh of relief, though, knowing that their state (and resulting gameday experience) is ranked as one of the safest in the nation, also per TicketIQ.
Taking rising local cases into account, Pats games have obtained a safety ranking of 0.26, ranking third-best in the country, firmly in the green zone.
But if you want to be there in 2020, and prefer a cold, hard seat and a muted tailgate experience instead of the comfort of your own home, you’ll be paying through the nose to do so. Seems backward to us.
Next. 3 Things Patriots Should Steal From Ravens Playbook. dark