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Tickets To 'Marquee' Seahawks-49ers Matchup Going For Under Face Value On Secondary Market

SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) - Fans who snapped up San Francisco 49ers season tickets with an eye toward turning a profit on the secondary market are likely out of luck.

After the Levi's Stadium opener against the Chicago Bears in September, Thursday's matchup against the Seattle Seahawks was considered the most desirable game on the 2014 schedule, but there are plenty of seats selling for well below face value on Stubhub. On Ticketmaster, numerous seats were available at $106 and above, the minimum price paid by people who had spent thousands of dollars for the right to buy those season tickets, effectively making the sale a loss.

On Wednesday afternoon, several seats were available at in the upper corners of the stadium from below $100, a few dollars cheaper than what was paid by those who also spent $2,000 on a license for each seat, and more than $40 cheaper than what you would have paid if you bought a single game seat through the team.

The price disparity was even larger at the higher ticket ranges. Tickets in the Loft Club could be found on Stub Hub for under $300, that's more than $100 cheaper than what season ticket-holders paid (not including a $20,000 seat license), and more that $200 off the single-game price listed by the team.

With more than 9,000 seats listed as available between StubHub and Ticketmaster alone, prices could well plunge further before kickoff Thursday.

A similar decline in resale price was evident before the regular season opener at Levi's, as well as the game against the Philadelphia Eagles. Those are three of four contests  (Kansas City being the other) this season at Levi's labeled "marquee," meaning the seats cost a bit more than the four lower-profile contests and the preseason games.

Prior to the season, the game was the number two most expensive game in the entire NFL – based on resale on the secondary marketplaces – In August, Tickets cost just under $600, according to the ticket resale site TickPick. On the eve of the game, only about 200 of more than 4,000 seats listed on StubHub are offered above that price.

Chicago-based Team Marketing Report released its annual Fan Cost Index in September, and found that families would have to shell out an average of $641.50 to attend a 49ers game in their new digs, the highest cost in the country.

It remains to be seen what this lack of demand will do to attendance moving forward, but those hoping to make a quick buck out of buying 49er tickets are likely out of luck.

 

 

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