As we count down to 2019, Ticket Club is reviewing the past year in the entertainment industry. Follow along with our series as we explore the best of 2018’s live events, determined by internal sales data.
Football fans certainly showed up this year, helping drive the NFL to have the most of the year’s best-selling sports games among any league.
Unsurprisingly, Super Bowl LII took the top spot among the Top 20 best-selling sports games, following typical trends. Over 67,000 fans filled Minneapolis’ U.S. Bank Stadium in February to see the Eagles capture their first Lombardi trophy over the Patriots. In-demand tickets undeniably spiked prices into the stadium and caused overall Super Bowl sales to skyrocket. Ticket Club’s average price for ticket landed around $4,300, though fans in attendance could have paid much more across other marketplaces when accounting for added service fees.
Another gridiron game with costly tickets was the 2018 College Football National Championship, the year’s No. 4 best-seller. Georgia vs. Alabama in the final showdown pulled an average ticket price of $1,820 and set the bar high as an immediate best-seller within the first week of January 2018.
Six of this year’s regular season NFL games made the Top 20, three of which came off Kansas City’s schedule. The Chiefs landed at Nos. 8, 10 and 11 for home clashes against the 49ers, Broncos and Bengals, respectively. Taking up the latter half of the list are a pair of Dallas Cowboys games against the Saints (No. 15) and Redskins (No. 18), plus an early-November meeting between the Patriots and Packers at No. 19.
While football had the strongest presence among the Top 20 best-selling sports games, baseball followed quickly behind. All five of the played World Series games scored a spot on the list, as well as the annual MLB All Star Game.
See the full list, including a breakdown of each game’s average ticket price, in the table below.
Ticket Club’s Top 20 Best-Selling Sports Games of 2018
| Rank | Game | Date | Venue | City | Average Ticket Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Super Bowl LII: New England Patriots vs. Philadelphia Eagles | 2/4/2018 | US Bank Stadium | Minneapolis, MN | $4,329.00 |
| 2 | UFC 229: Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Conor McGregor | 10/6/2018 | T-Mobile Arena | Las Vegas, NV | $1,021.00 |
| 3 | World Series: Los Angeles Dodgers vs. Boston Red Sox – Home Game 2, Series Game 4 | 10/27/2018 | Dodger Stadium | Los Angeles, CA | $791.00 |
| 4 | College Football Championship Game: Georgia Bulldogs vs. Alabama Crimson Tide | 1/8/2018 | Mercedes-Benz Stadium | Atlanta, GA | $1,820.00 |
| 5 | Canelo Alvarez vs. Gennady Golovkin | 9/15/2018 | T-Mobile Arena | Las Vegas, NV | $946.00 |
| 6 | World Series: Los Angeles Dodgers vs. Boston Red Sox – Home Game 1, Series Game 3 | 10/26/2018 | Dodger Stadium | Los Angeles, CA | $694.00 |
| 7 | NHL Stanley Cup Finals: Washington Capitals vs. Vegas Golden Knights – Home Game 2, Series Game 4 | 6/4/2018 | Capital One Arena | Washington, DC | $1,415.00 |
| 8 | Kansas City Chiefs vs. San Francisco 49ers | 9/23/2018 | Arrowhead Stadium | Kansas City, MO | $119.00 |
| 9 | World Series: Los Angeles Dodgers vs. Boston Red Sox – Home Game 3, Series Game 5 | 10/28/2018 | Dodger Stadium | Los Angeles, CA | $625.00 |
| 10 | Kansas City Chiefs vs. Denver Broncos | 10/28/2018 | Arrowhead Stadium | Kansas City, MO | $157.00 |
| 11 | Kansas City Chiefs vs. Cincinnati Bengals | 10/21/2018 | Arrowhead Stadium | Kansas City, MO | $96.00 |
| 12 | WWE: WrestleMania XXXIV | 4/8/2018 | Mercedes-Benz Superdome | New Orleans, LA | $141.00 |
| 13 | MLB All Star Game | 7/17/2018 | Nationals Park | Washington, DC | $543.00 |
| 14 | WWE: WrestleMania XXXV | 4/7/2018 | MetLife Stadium | East Rutherford, NJ | $342.00 |
| 15 | Dallas Cowboys vs. New Orleans Saints | 11/29/2018 | AT&T Stadium | Arlington, TX | $198.00 |
| 16 | International Friendly: Mexico vs. Croatia | 3/27/2018 | AT&T Stadium | Arlington, TX | $117.00 |
| 17 | World Series: Boston Red Sox vs. Los Angeles Dodgers – Home Game 1, Series Game 1 | 10/23/2018 | Fenway Park | Boston, MA | $696.00 |
| 18 | Dallas Cowboys vs. Washington Redskins | 11/22/2018 | AT&T Stadium | Arlington, TX | $194.00 |
| 19 | New England Patriots vs. Green Bay Packers | 11/4/2018 | Gillette Stadium | Foxborough, MA | $502.00 |
| 20 | World Series: Boston Red Sox vs. Los Angeles Dodgers – Home Game 2, Series Game 2 | 10/23/2018 | Fenway Park | Boston, MA | $667.00 |
Want to see more posts like this? Check out the rest of our Year in Review series here.