January 31, 2014
Most of the excitement around New York City this week has been base on the Super Bowl. As people continue to crowd the streets for events surrounding the Super Bowl, the prices for Super Bowl tickets continue to fall. While many were expecting this to be one of the highest priced Super Bowls of all-time, the current trend on the secondary market could make this one of the cheapest games years. Super Bowl tickets aren’t the only thing falling, though. Even with the increasing number of people wandering the streets of New York City, prices for many Broadway tickets have fallen this week as well.
Based on gross receipts last week, the three biggest shows on Broadway are Book of Mormon, The Lion King, and Wicked. Last week, each of the shows grossed over $1.5 million. Compared to their average price over the next three months, those top three shows have an 18% discount during Super Bowl weekend. Book of Mormon has the highest discount. At an average price of $243 during Super Bowl weekend, The Book of Mormon tickets are 27% cheaper than the rest of the year. The second largest discount belongs to Lion King tickets. At an average price of $256, they’re 14% cheaper than the rest of the year. Currently, the Saturday night show is the cheapest of the weekend, with an average price of $208. At an average price of $258, Wicked tickets have the smallest discount at 12%.
One would probably assume with the influx of people searching for things to do in the days leading up to the Super Bowl, Broadway tickets would see an increase in price as a result. In a vacuum that would be a safe assumption, but the amount of people in the city isn’t the only thing increasing. The amount of other events popping up this week have rivaled the lure of seeing a broadway show. Super Bowl pre-parties like the Maxim and DirecTV parties or ESPN Next give fans a choice between seeing a show they could see any other time in the city or attend an event specific to why they’re in the city in the first place.
Some of the promotion the shows have been doing themselves could actually be hurting the demand for the full performances. In the past week the cast of Jersey Boys performed at Yankee Stadium as part of the NHL’s Stadium Series game and performed in front of Macy’s in Herald Square to help open Super Bowl Boulevard. With so many free performances, it’s not much of a surprise the demand for Jersey Boy tickets is down.
For those wanting to get-in to see a Broadway show, this would certainly be the time to do it as many other people are distracted by the other events New York City is offering this week.
