Packers fans like iPad for buying tickets
Green Bay Packers fans love iPads and desktop computers for buying tickets, but really don't like iPhones.
Those were conclusions ticket reseller SeatGeek drew after analyzing ticket-buying and -selling behavior of millions of NFL fans during the 2015 season.
Packers fans were notable for their choice of technology and for buying tickets earlier than any other fans in the league.
"There are so many Packers fans that don't live in Green Bay that make the trip to go to Lambeau Field," said Chris Leyden, content analyst for SeatGeek. "If you are going to come see the Packers, you plan that out way in advance. It's not a place like San Francisco, for example, where people might find themselves there and decide to go to the game."
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Packers fans were first in the NFL when it came to ordering tickets on iPads, and second in using desktop computers. They were dead last using iPhones and fifth from last using Android phones.
Kansas City Chiefs fans bought the most tickets using Android phones, while New England Patriots fans were the mostly likely to use desktop computers.
Not surprisingly, Oakland Raiders and San Francisco 49ers fans, neighbors to Silicon Valley, led the league in mobile technology. Raiders fans were No. 1 using iPhones to buy tickets and last in the use of desktop computers. 49ers fans embraced the use of barcode entrance to their stadium more than other fans, though not all stadiums have that as an option.
Leyden isn't certain of a correlation, but SeatGeek found that fans bought tickets earliest for games that included Green Bay, Cincinnati and Buffalo, all cold-weather cities, while warm-weather teams San Francisco, Atlanta and Miami had the most last-minute purchases.
Forty-nine days before a game was the median buying time for Packers fans. Leyden said the Packers' Thanksgiving Day game, during which Brett Favre and Bart Starr made much-anticipated returns to Lambeau Field, might have skewed the results a little, "but I think the concept is still there."
Packers fans are known to be among the best travelers in the NFL, especially when November, December and January games are scheduled in warm-weather cities. A notable example was the Dec. 27, 2015, game in Glendale, Ariz., where about 30 percent of the attendees at University of Phoenix Stadium were Packers fans.
Carolina tickets were the hottest commodity home and away, also not a surprise since the Panthers flirted with an undefeated record before finishing the regular season 15-1 and losing the Super Bowl 24-10 to Denver.
Packers tickets were the fourth-most expensive on the secondary market, with an average resale price of $285. They trailed the Denver Broncos ($314), Patriots ($300) and Seattle Seahawks ($299). The original costs of tickets for those teams were higher than the Packers', too.
The average cost of Packers' tickets in 2014 was $220.
"I think the Favre retirement game, plus home games against the Seahawks and Cowboys, helped drive that number up," Leyden said of the increase in 2015. "The Packers are still an incredibly hot ticket compared to the rest of the league."
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