6 Strategies to Score Cheap(er) Football Tickets

The 2017 football season is about to ramp up. College officially kicked off last weekend, but the real games start hitting this weekend with a full slate of games including a major match-ups (FSU v. Alabama, Michigan v. Florida & Tennessee v. GaTech) & the NFL returns next Thursday  September 7 with the Chiefs facing the Pats. Like us you're probably hoping to see your favorite team chuck the pigskin at least once this season. The unfortunate reality for us fans is that the prices for seemingly everything keep going up. When you telly up the cost of parking, food and beverages, and of course, tickets for 2 it can end up costing you well over $200. So we decided it was time to share some knowledge on how to get cheaper seats for football games. We may not be able to negotiate a lower price on beers at Soldier Field, but sure as heck have a few tried and true ticket buying strategies that deliver great bargains on prices.

#1 Buy at the Last Minute This tip isn't good for our business, but it really works. For the majority of football games we see a massive spike in the prices of tickets 21 days out from kick off that tends to last all the way up until about 1 day before the matchup, at that point sellers get antsy and are willing to drop ticket prices. According to one analysis from a few season ago, tickets purchased one or two days before a game were 30% cheaper, on average, than those bought two or three weeks ahead of time. Granted, the selection of tickets may not be as good at the last minute, but when you're shopping for bargains you can't be too picky. This option works especially well for those week 4 & 5 college match-ups where an unexpected team or 2 is undefeated and the media is blowing it up as the game of the century. Initially prices will surge, but around the day before people realize it's just another Georgia Tech v. UNC game and it's not worth paying $300 to sit in the nosebleeds and the prices drop. View College Football Tickets

#2 Pick Games Featuring Non-Popular Teams When you're eyeing your home team's schedule and trying to figure out when to catch a game in person, be mindful of who your team is playing. Fans of storied programs or teams are known for traveling cross-country to see their squads play on the road, and the result is that, say, Dallas Cowboys' hometown AT&T Stadium could be overrun with Seattle Seahawks or Pittsburgh Steelers fans when they're the visiting team. Obviously, demand is higher when locals and out-of-towners alike are clamoring for tickets, and the result is higher prices. The flip side is that prices can plummet when your team is hosting an opponent that has no national fan base. Opponents to look for when searching for a great deal on NFL tickets include the Bears, Buccaneers, Browns, Jets, Rams and Jaguars and any CFB FCS team (think Samford, Austin Peay...etc). Again these options aren't sexy, but if you are trying to ball on a budget not being too choosy about your team's opponents can save you big time.

#3 Go on the Road Yourself OK, so by the time you factor in the costs of transportation and lodging, heading off for a weekend getaway to see your team play on the road may wind up costing more than paying top dollar for a home game. But if you aren't traveling too far, or you have another excuse to go to a city where your team is playing—say, visiting family or your old college roommate—heading on the road to watch some NFL action could prove to be a good value. Tickets for the New York Jets at TMOTickets, for instance, were starting at only $20 to $25 for road games last season at Cleveland and Kansas City. That's less the half the face value for any Jets' home game at MetLife Stadium this season. What's more, it's all but guaranteed that prices for those games at Cleveland and Kansas City to get even cheaper as kickoff gets closer (see "Buy at the Last Minute" above).

#4 Check Out Games At Odd Times & On Odd Days Football fans tend to set aside their Saturday and/or Sunday afternoons for games. It can be a harder sell, then, when the game takes place on a school night or on an odd day (Mac Tuesday games or ACC Thursday games).  One pricing analysis done a few seasons ago shows that tickets for Monday Night Football games are slightly cheaper on the secondary market than regular Sunday games, and that many Monday night games cost 20% or so less than the team's average prices. Again looking back at the New York Jets, prices for the team's Monday night home game on December 5 against the Indianapolis Colts were starting at $40 on TMOTickets.com, which is 25% to 50% cheaper than typical Sunday home games. Still, the matchups play a big role in how much tickets cost, no matter if it's an afternoon or evening kickoff. When the Minnesota Vikings host their upper Midwest rivals the Green Bay Packers for a Sunday night game on September 18, the cheapest tickets are going for $206. A couple of weeks later, though, the Vikings played at home on a Monday night against the New York Giants, and seats are listed as low as $39. View NFL Tickets & Prices

#5 Embrace The Cold Weather Games Some of College's regular season and much of the NFL's regular season drags well into winter, and the truth is that many teams literally have fair-weather fans who'd rather not freeze their butts off at the stadium when they could watch from the couch in their comfortably heated living rooms. It's understandable, then, that demand—and therefore, ticket prices—tends to decrease as the season progresses and weather turns cold in much of the country. We often see prices 65% lower for bad weather games.

#6 Avoid Ticketing Fees By Buying From Us

And you thought you were going to go an entire email from us without a shameless plug.... It's a fact that we, Take Me Out Tickets, don't have fees on any of our ticket prices. What you see is what you pay. Pretty much every other retailer online (including the team's box office) add 10-20% on top of the price you see. That is something like 1 stadium priced beer per ticket, if not more. Visit Our Web Site