Most Expensive NFL Tickets (Week Ended 8/15/2011)

• Always a fan favorite up in the Northeast, the Patriots are commanding an average ticket price of $301.78 dollars and take the spot as the most expensive NFL ticket this week (sorry New England fans)
• Super Bowl Champs, the Green Bay Packers hold down the second spot with an avg. secondary market ticket price of $270.66
• The top five is rounded out by the Bears, Giants and the Steelers

Cheapest NFL Tickets - Week Ended 8/15/2011

• On the other end of the spectrum, Browns tickets are going to be much more affordable to buy with an average ticket price of $87.45
• With that said, this is still pretty high considering the cheapest MLB team over the same period was the Reds with an average price of $21.02
• Rounding out the bottom 5 were the Rams, Bills, Jaguars and Chiefs

If you want to see how NFL tickets stack up against other events, check out our comparison of the most expensive tickets by event-type.

We've all heard the expression "No publicity is bad publicity." Here at SeatGeek we compiled some ticket data to show you how true that statement really is...

John Mayer

Aside from his music, John Mayer is well known for his controversial interview published in the March 2010 issue of Playboy magazine, in which he referred to his relationship with Jessica Simpson as "sexual napalm," described his sexual orientation as "white supremacist," and used the "N-word."

So what did this appallingly offensive interview do for Mayer's music  career? We looked at the fluctuation in ticket price for John Mayer concerts on the secondary market, as well as the change in number of tickets purchased during the weeks before and after the release of the interview on February 10th, 2010, and found dramatic spikes. In the month before the interview hit the news stands, Mayer's concert tickets were selling at an average price of $119.  In the two weeks after the interview was released, ticket prices climbed to an average of $235. In addition, 6x as many tickets were being sold on the secondary market in the two weeks following the scandal, and it didn't stop there. With the increasing amount of bad press, John Mayer tickets were averaging $254 in March and, by the end of April, were selling for an average price of $280.

Taylor Swift

We all remember the uproar surrounding the 2009 VMAs, after Kanye West crashed the stage and interrupted Taylor Swift's speech, protesting that Beyoncé (not Taylor) had one of the best videos of all time. Unfortunately for Kanye's career, he was not on tour at the time of the incident. Swift, however, reaped the benefits of the publicity surrounding the scandal. In the month before the event, Taylor Swift's concert tickets were averaging $127 per ticket, but after Kanye grabbed her mic on national television, the average ticket price soared to $166. Ironically, Kanye's doubts about Swift's talent ended up helping her career.

Brett Favre

Before going into retirement this past January, Brett Favre was the quarterback for the Minnesota Vikings. The only quarterback to throw the ball over 70,000 yards,  fans filed into stadiums to watch Favre in action, but it was not Favre's athletic ability that was selling Vikings' tickets in the fall of 2010.  On October 8, 2010 the NFL began investigating Favre for leaving inappropriate voicemails and texts for Jenn Sterger, the Jets' sports reporter during the 2008 season.

What effect did this have on ticket prices for the Vikings? In August and September, before the Favre scandal, Vikings' tickets were selling for an average of $103. With all the buzz  surrounding Favre's investigation, the ticket price on the secondary market jumped to an average of $134 per ticket.

So what is the take home message here? Racism, inappropriate outbursts, and sexual misconduct lead to a more successful career? Hopefully not, but the data clearly displays that the publicity surrounding these events helped to increase ticket values.

Find this interesting? Check out SeatGeek's data regarding the Gender Divide in Standup Comedy

Don't miss out on BCS Championship tickets 2012

Top New Years Bowl Games

#1 Rose Bowl – Wisconsin Badgers vs TCU Horned Frogs – The unbeaten TCU Horned Frogs are ready to show the nation that they are deserving of not just a BCS Bowl Game but maybe even a shot at a BCS Championship Game.  TCU will take on offensive powerhouse and the Big Ten Conference Champion Wisconsin Badgers.  This is TCU’s first Rose Bowl appearance and the Badgers are shooting for their 4th Rose Bowl win.  Rose Bowl tickets are averaging $326.61 and are a steal compared to the $1073.45 average price of BCS National Championship tickets.

#2 Outback Bowl – Florida Gators vs Penn State Nittany Lions - This is Urban Meyer’s last game as the Gator’s head coach.  Meyer will match up against college football’s winningest coach of all time, Joe Paterno, who has made it clear that he will be returning for another season and has no plans to step down.   The average price of an Outback Bowl ticket is $135.63.

#3 Capital One Bowl – Michigan State Spartans vs Alabama Crimson Tide – Michigan State must still be bitter about finishing the season with an 11-1 record and not playing in a BCS bowl game but they are still playing in one of the bigger bowl games and are matched up against the defending National Champions.  The average price Capital One Bowl Game tickets is $127.41.

#4 Chick-Fil-A Bowl – Florida State Seminoles vs South Carolina Gamecocks – In the first season without Bobby Bowden as head coach of the Seminoles, Jimbo Fisher continues the streak of 29 consecutive bowl game appearances in his first season as Florida State head coach.  Fans are paying an average of $117.73  for a ticket to see Jimbo Fisher and the Seminoles take on veteran coach, Steve Spurrier, and the USC Gamecocks in the Chick-Fil-A Bowl game on New Year’s Eve.

#5 Fiesta Bowl – Oklahoma Sooners vs Connecticut Huskies – UConn’s Big East Championship earned them an automatic entry to the BCS bowl game series.  UConn has a history of playing in big college basketball games but the Fiesta Bowl will be the biggest football game in UConn history.  Oklahoma on the other hand has a long history of playing in big college football bowl games.  The average price of tickets to the Fiesta Bowl is $111.63.

#6 Sun Bowl - Notre Dame Fighting Irish vs Miami Hurricanes - The game has often been referred to as "Convicts vs Catholics".  The Hurricanes and Fighting Irish haven't played against one another since 1990 but was a huge rivalry throughout the 1980s.  The average price of a ticket to the Sun Bowl is $95.72.

#7 Gator Bowl - Mississippi State Bulldogs vs Michigan Wolverines - This is Michigan's first bowl game since the 2007 season and might be Rich Rod's last game as a Wolverine coach if the Jim Harbaugh rumors are true.  This is likely to be a high-scoring event considering the Bulldogs are the 16th best rushing offense and Denard Robinson can put up points for the Wolverines quicker than anyone in college football.  The average price of a Gator Bowl ticket is $92.77.

#8 Meineke Car Care Bowl – Clemson Tigers vs South Florida Bulls – The Clemson Tigers will take on the USF Bulls on New Year's Eve. The average ticket price for the Meineke Car Care Bowl is $77.49 which puts it at #8 on our list of New Years Bowl games.

#9 Liberty Bowl - Central Florida Knights vs Georgia Bulldogs - The Georgia Bulldogs had a rough season but finished the season bowl eligible with a 6-6 record.   The Conference USA Champion Knights will be stiff competition for the Bulldogs.  Tickets to the Libery Bowl are averaging $74.25.

#10 TicketCity Bowl - Northwestern Wildcats vs Texas Tech Red Raiders - The Wildcats and the Red Raiders will square off in the first ever TicketCity Bowl being held on New Year's Day.  The TicketCity Bowl is averaging $64.06 per ticket.

Monday Night's game is being played at University of Minnesota's TCF Bank Stadium because the roof of the Metrodome is still under repair.  This will be the first time the Minnesota Vikings are playing an outdoor home game since their last game at Metropolitan Stadium on December 20, 1981, exactly 29 years ago.  There are quite a few difficulties that come with playing this game at TCF Bank Stadium, one is the inclement weather and the other is the seating arrangements.

Playing a night game outdoors in Minnesota during the middle of December just sounds brutal.  According to weather.com, it will be 25 degrees out but with the wind chill it will feel like it is 13 degrees and there is a 70%-90% chance of snow.  The Vikings punter Chris Kluwe voiced his concerns about the field saying the field is "hard as concrete."  Aside from the conditions, it took a lot of manual labor to remove all of the snow from TCF Bank Stadium, check out the time lapse video of the entire process below.

The Metrodome holds approximately 64,000 while TCF Bank Stadium has a capacity of around 51,000, in order to deal with this issue the Vikings announced that the game will be general admission and seating will be first come first serve.  Preference will be given to lower level ticket holders by allowing them to enter the stadium 30 minutes before the upper level ticket holders.

Aside from all the mess surrounding this game, this is the 100th meeting of the Vikings and the game has playoff implications for the Chicago Bears.  Since the Patriots beat the Packers on Sunday, the Bears can now clinch a playoff spot with a win in tonights game against the Vikings.

Let us know if you're going to the game or your thoughts about the entire situation in the comments or on Twitter @SeatGeek.