4 MINUTE READ
What do you really know about NFL parking prices?
Whereas the information on NFL tickets is comprehensive and plentiful, parking data is spotty.
Consequently, it’s costing you money.
How so? Well, consider that:
- NFL parking passes are not cheap. In fact, tickets prices are only 21% more on the secondary market.
- The number of available on-site parking spaces are relatively few when compared to seating capacity. (Demand > Supply) = High Prices.
- There’s more variance with stadium parking costs. For you statheads, the standard deviation of median parking prices was greater by 2 when compared to median ticket prices in 2021. While this means that there’s a more of a chance that you’ll overpay, it also means that there’s greater opportunity for savings.
How much does it cost to park at a NFL football game?
NFL parking prices average about $40, face value, which isn’t bad at all.
The problem is, finding stadium parking passes at face value – while not impossible – is extremely difficult.
Rare is the venue or team where you can purchase on-site parking on game day. For the most part, stadium parking passes – just like tickets – are snatched up by ticket sites, where they’re sold with a considerable markup.
Here’s the data from 12 major ticket resellers:
| Average cheapest price | Median cheapest price | |
| 2021 | $110.01 | $102.64 |
| 2022 | $118.71 | $113.82 |
NFL parking prices on the secondary market
Stadium parking passes are similar to game tickets in the sense that they’re both basically commodities. As such, face value prices are uniform.
To repeat, the average NFL fan is typically forced to deal with the secondary market and the inherent broker fees. Unsurprisingly, service fees vary from site to site, and the difference can be huge.
Notably however, parking passes are significantly different when it comes to the aforementioned price variance. To elaborate, we’ll use a table from another page:
| Lowest median price vs site average | Lowest vs highest median price | |
| Tickets | -15% | -26% |
| Parking | -19% | -35% |
The difference is considerable. Let’s say, for example, you have a game or team in which the median cheapest cost of parking is $111. Using the above figures, that means the best price would be $21 less ($90), while the difference between the lowest & highest prices would be $49.
With this in mind, let me point out that the greater variance in NFL parking prices can be attributed to 4 or 5 instances. Allow me to explain…
Typically, the largest difference between the median lowest vs. average ticket price for a particular game or team among brokers is < 38%. Specifically, TickPick’s median cheapest seat for a Texans game cost $32.50 before the regular season began. That price was 37.91% less than the aggregate median of 11 other sites and represented 2022’s biggest bargain – in terms of % – at the time.
In contrast, there are currently 5 teams (as of August) for which the least-expensive parking pass from a particular reseller is at least 38% cheaper than average:
Note: If you’re getting an error message on top of the visualization, unblocking 3rd-party browser cookies temporarily should resolve the issue. [How to allow 3rd party cookies in Chrome and Edge. Links will open in a new tab]
Explaining the visualization:
- Site 1 is the ticket site with the lowest median price for that team.
- Site 2 is the reseller with the best lowest price frequency for that team.
- Median Price is Site 2‘s median price for that team’s home games.
- Difference is the % difference in median price between Site 1 & the average of the other sites.
- Lowest Price % is the percentage of home games for which Site 2 had cheapest price.
- Prices current as of August 6, 2022
So what?!?
I’ve no explanation for these vast differences in NFL parking prices amongst ticket resellers.
Perhaps certain brokers have exclusive deals for select parking areas. Or maybe some resellers are able to purchase large blocks of passes because they were at the head of the queue. Or maybe the ones that have “operated on the legal and moral fringes” for so long, they make the competition look that much better.
Who knows? Who cares??
All that should matter to you is that it gives you the opportunity to save, for example:
- $146 on New England Patriots parking passes
- $94 (Saints)
- $103 (Seahawks)
NFL parking prices summary
- NFL parking prices on the secondary market are nearly as expensive as the tickets.
- The large price variance of parking passes amongst brokers & teams provides better opportunities for saving money.
- The cost of stadium parking for certain teams on certain sites present exceptional bargains. Specifically, you can save 30% or more on official parking for nine teams, as of this writing.
