KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The dirty little secret about modern Super Bowls is that the atmosphere isn’t always great.
But data from Vivid Seats, an online ticket marketplace, suggests the Kansas City Chiefs will have the “home-field advantage” against the San Francisco 49ers for Super Bowl LIV on Sunday at Hard Rock Stadium — to the extent there is one.
Each conference champion is allocated 17.5% of seats at the stadium. The remaining 65% goes primarily to corporate sponsors, according to Vivid Seats.
During a conference championship game, home fans pack the stadium and the loud, rowdy atmosphere often crackles with electricity and emotion.
The Super Bowl lacks that intensity, in part, because of its neutral-site location, which is exacerbated by the crowd’s composition.
Other big-time football games, including the College Football Championship, are played at a neutral site, but typically the stadium remains packed with die-hard fans.
There’s more of a corporate feel to the Super Bowl crowd, which is often filled with people who aren’t necessarily a fan of either team.
The high cost of admission — Vivid Seats says the average price of a ticket sold to Super Bowl LIV through Tuesday was $5,656 — also prevents the team’s most rabid fans from getting in the building.
But if there is any good news, Vivid Seats said Chiefs fans have gobbled up 63% of the available tickets compared to only 37% for 49ers fans.
