Browns ticket prices skyrocketing on secondary market

Just four years ago, when the Browns were making history by going 0-16, tickets at Stubhub.com and other secondary markets for home games at FirstEnergy Stadium sold for as little as $6.

A lot has changed since then.

According to research by Jesse Lawrence of ticketiq.com, prices for Browns tickets on the secondary market have increased by a whopping 166% since 2019, with an average price of $515. Note this isn’t the Haslams gouging fans; it’s what places like Seatgeek, stubhub and their ilk can get for Browns tickets when they buy them at face value or fans sell to the various companies to make a profit.

The secondary market is legalized scalping. Not surprisingly, the most expensive tickets being resold are for Las Vegas Raiders home games at an average cost of $1,652, according to Ticketiq.com. 2020 was the first year the Raiders played in Las Vegas, but fans were not permitted inside Allegiant Stadium because of the novel coronavirus pandemic. There are no restrictions this year.

The research concluded Browns’ secondary ticket prices have increased 270% since 2015. Only the Raiders and Buccaneers have had a higher inflation rate over the same six-year period.

Tickets for the Browns’ home game against the Steelers on Halloween are the most expensive with the cheapest seats costing $210. The cheapest tickets — for now — are $70 for the home game against the Bengals on Jan. 9, but demand could cause those to increase if the game is pivotal to the Browns’ playoff chances.

The story from ticketiq.com does not name the secondary ticket sites it investigated.