Every Friday, I feature a fun and budget-friendly option in the Greater Boston area. The “Feature Friday” is typically mentioned on the Cheap Eats list, Free Things to Do in Boston, or Discount Attractions. However, there’s so much budget-friendly ideas on my pages, I thought it would be fun to feature something budget-friendly and different each week. Also, each Feature Friday is something I have personal experience with or took advantage of recently! Enjoy!
Last year the New England Patriots had the highest ticket price in the NFL and the second largest overall expense to attend a game at Gillette Stadium. It was almost $300 per person to attend a game last year, on average, which is not very budget-friendly.
I have to admit that one of my splurges are attending Patriots games and other Boston sporting events. (I think rewarding yourself here and there for items that are important to you is important to do.) However, I typically don’t spend near $300 for myself at a game. Here are some tips for saving at Patriots games and more:
- Buy tickets at asking price (or below) directly from the source when they go on sale, especially from the Patriots because they tend to sell for a lot more from third party sellers
- Attend less desirable games to find lower ticket prices (Bad/cold weather games, bad opponents, awkward date/times, etc.)
- Travel and park with a group of friends in one car and split parking costs or look for other inexpensive travel options. (For example: $40/4= $10 per person for parking at a Gillette Lot)
- If you do plan to eat and drink at the game, eat at home, tailgate for the game, or find an inexpensive dining option. Try not to eat in the stadium whenever possible to avoid high drink and food prices.
If you do like to attend Pats games at least once a year and don’t have a ticket hookup, I’d recommend signing up for the Patriots season ticket waitlist. It is $100 per seat when you sign up, however, you can put that towards season tickets if you do go that route. The best thing about being on the Patriots waitlist is access to the ticket exchange.
The NFL ticket exchange is a great way to buy tickets from other fans at face value or below. Sometimes it can be tricky to find tickets for high demand games in advance, but you can usually find tickets for a few games, as well as last minute tickets to the high demand games.
Although the waitlist isn’t for everyone, it definitely works well for myself and my family and has already paid for itself. One year we were able to find playoff tickets below face value because the weather was less than ideal. It definitely has saved us a lot of money and we’ve gone to a lot of great games!
However, if you do not want to be on a waitlist and couldn’t get tickets at face value when they went on sale, finding last minute tickets to games are a great way to avoid high ticket prices. You just need to be flexible.
Do you have any tips to save on Patriots games or your favorite Boston Sports Team?
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