THE average resale price of a ticket to the Feb. 7 game between the Carolina Panthers and Denver Broncos is US$5,178, according to ticket price tracker SeatGeek.

    That’s far above past Super Bowl ticket prices immediately following the conference championship games. This is the first time over the past five years that a Super Bowl ticket’s average price topped as much as US$4,000 at this point in the U.S. National Football League (NFL) season.

    A pair of club seats near midfield have already sold for US$12,100 each, making them the most expensive seats sold so far, according to SeatGeek.

    “This year’s Super Bowl is on pace to not only be the most expensive Super Bowl, but the most expensive event, topping things like the Mayweather-Pacquiao boxing match and the Masters,” said Chris Leyden, analyst with SeatGeek, on Monday.

    The Mayweather-Pacquiao fight is the most expensive ticket in SeatGeek’s data base, with the average price for the match last May coming in at US$4,672.

    Some of the tickets that have already been bought could go back up for sale, since the Boston area was the biggest buyer of tickets so far, with about 14 percent of the tickets purchased ( the defending champion New England Patriots fell just short of making it back to the Super Bowl with their narrow loss to Denver on Sunday).

    The game will be played in Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California. That is the second-largest market for tickets, with 10 percent of the purchases. Silicon Valley’s money could be a major factor in driving ticket prices this year.(SD-Agencies)