Titans-Bengals a Hot Ticket
NASHVILLE – The Tennessee Titans hope to cash in on homefield advantage this weekend. After all, they have been better at home than on the road this season.
The environment at Nissan Stadium, however, comes at a cost – for those who create the atmosphere, that is.
Average ticket prices for Saturday’s game against the Cincinnati Bengals are the most expensive of the divisional round, according to SITix.com, at $495. That is at least $57 more than for any of the other three games and 51.8 percent higher than the other AFC game, Buffalo at Kansas City.
Clearly, the price is not prohibitive. The Titans-Bengals game was the fourth-best selling event overall and second among this weekend’s NFL games, according to SITix data. That, despite the fact that the Titans did not even know their opponent until Sunday night.
“It should be an amazing atmosphere,” coach Mike Vrabel said Monday. “It is playoff football in January. We have had amazing support the entire season. We got a lot of support in Houston. It was really cool to see those fans that traveled down there. Thankful we could reward them with a win.
“Hopefully they are ready to get back into our stadium and have an atmosphere that helps us win on Saturday.”
A look at the average ticket prices for this weekend’s NFL divisional playoff games (source: SITix):
• Tennessee Titans vs. Cincinnati Bengals: $495
• Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs. Arizona/L.A. Rams: $438
• Green Bay Packers vs. San Francisco 49ers: $416
• Kansas City Chiefs vs. Buffalo Bills: $326
The Titans ranked 12th in home attendance during the regular season with an average of 68,566 tickets sold for the nine games at Nissan Stadium. That was 99.2 percent capacity.
That is third among the four teams that will host divisional round games this weekend. Green Bay, the No. 1 seed in the NFC, averaged 77,991 (95.8 percent of capacity), and Kansas City, No. 2 in the AFC, averaged 73,227 (100.4 percent of capacity). Defending champion Tampa Bay averaged 65,372 (99.3 percent of capacity).
Not coincidentally, those teams were the ones with the best home records during the regular season. Green Bay was 8-0 at home. Tampa Bay was 7-1. Tennessee and Kansas City were 7-2.
