The Morning Column: February 8, 2022

Super Bowl LVI is on track to have the most expensive average ticket price in NFL history.

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1. Super Bowl LVI is on track to have the most expensive average ticket price in NFL history.

The current overall average purchase price is $8,518, which is over twice as much as the average price was in 2019 when the Rams played the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LIII. It’s also $1,000 more than it was last year when less than 25,000 tickets were made available at Raymond James Stadium to see the Tampa Bay Buccaneers became the first team to play in their home stadium in the Super Bowl against the Kansas City Chiefs.

Here’s a look at the recent average purchase prices:

2022: $8,518

2021: $7,318

2020: $6,796

2019: $3,895

2018: $4,228

While the overall average purchase price will set a new Super Bowl record, Brett Goldeberg, the co-founder and co-CEO of TickPick, an online marketplace for tickets, is noticing the “get-in” price has steadily dropped since the Rams and Cincinnati Bengals clinched a trip to the Super Bowl.

“For now, the average purchase price for this year’s Super Bowl is currently the most expensive on record,” he said. “The get-in price, though, may drop below $5,000, as we have noticed a steady drop since the matchup was set. Fans looking for the most affordable tickets should keep their eyes on that get-in over the coming days.”

2. The NFL has designated the Cincinnati Bengals as the “home team” in Super Bowl 56 but the Los Angeles Rams will be:

- Practicing in their home training facility.

- Playing in their home stadium.

- In their home locker room.

- Standing on their home sideline.

- Wearing arguably their most popular home uniform.

Even the hotel they will be staying at the night before the Super Bowl will have a home away from home feel.

Six years ago, the Rams met for the first time as a team at a Manhattan Beach hotel after officially relocating to Southern California. Aaron Donald and Johnny Hekker talked to the L.A. media for the first time afterwards. That same hotel will be the team's official hotel for the Super Bowl.

3. We’re still in the midst of the pandemic but covering the Super Bowl this week in L.A. feels like an offramp. Last year’ Super Bowl Radio Row in Tampa had 42 socially distanced pods set up with plexiglass dividers and less than half were actually used. It was a ghost town. This year, Super Bowl Radio Row feels the same way did two years ago in Miami with 136 broadcast tables and 14 other broadcast setups in and around the media center. And while there is still a mask mandate most of the vaccinated people on the air aren’t wearing one, which will be the norm soon as California will end its statewide indoor mask mandate for vaccinated individuals next week.

4. The Pro Bowl is one of the NFL’s tentpole events and it seems to have found a new home in Las Vegas, which will also host the NFL Draft in April and Super Bowl LVIII in 2024. The NFL has not announced plans for next year’s game but sources say the Pro Bowl will likely be back in Las Vegas, which would be less than an hour flight to Phoenix, the host of Super Bowl LVII next year. Where will the 2024 Pro Bowl be held with the Super Bowl taking place in Las Vegas? Odds are SoFi Stadium, which is a 45-minute flight from Las Vegas although the league will have to do something to spice up the game in order to draw a decent crowd for a glorified exhibition that has essentially turned into a two-hand touch football game.     

5. Liz Cambage has verballed agreed to leave the Las Vegas Aces join the Los Angeles Sparks, according to ESPN. Joining the Sparks is a dream come true for Liz Cambage. When Cambage demanded a trade from Dallas about three years ago, most assumed she was destined to join the Sparks. That was the team she wanted to go to before she was eventually traded to the Las Vegas Aces.

I talked to Cambage after the trade to Las Vegas and she said, “My family is a 16-hour flight away and L.A. is the first stop, and I want my family to come out here but I don’t want them traveling for 20 hours. L.A. is just safe for me. I’ve always lived by the ocean."

"I’m a bit of a nature girl and I like to go for walks in the canyon and Joshua Tree is so close to L.A. I have friends and family that live in L.A. It’s little things like that. I’m close with Chiney and I’ve always wanted to play with her and Nneka."

It took a little longer than she had hoped but Cambage will now get the chance to do that and play in the city she always wanted to next season.

7. Here are some odds if you’re thinking about placing a wager today brought to you by Circa Sports.

8. Here’s the local pro sports schedule for today brought to you by Yaamava’.

5:00 p.m. Los Angeles Clippers at Memphis Grizzlies – Bally Sports SoCal

7:00 p.m. Milwaukee Bucks at Los Angeles Lakers– TNT

9. Here are the “get in” price for a ticket on TickPick to go the Super Bowl.

Los Angeles Rams vs, Cincinnati Bengals – $5,000  

10. On Monday’s The Arash Markazi Show, we previewed Super Bowl LVI with the Rams staying home to play the Cincinnati Bengals at SoFi Stadium.

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