Aaron Rodgers' departure could make Green Bay Packers tickets cheaper next season

If Aaron Rodgers plays for New York this year, it could benefit football fans who buy tickets on the secondary market. For Green Bay Packers season tickets holders , not as much.

Kyle Zorn, brand manager for secondary marketplace TickPick , estimates ticket prices could open about 10 percent lower than if Rodgers was still quarterback, assuming no other significant variables, such as a Packers-Chicago Bears opener.

After that, it will depend on how quarterback Jordan Love plays and the Packers' success. Only long-term failure — we're looking at you 1980s — would cause a collapse in demand, and thus prices. "The demand will always be there. Every single year the Packers are in the top 10," Zorn said. "Last year, they were the third-most expensive ticket. The Tampa Bay Bucs were No. 2 and the Las Vegas Raiders No. 1."

The Packers have a season ticket waiting list of more than 140,000, which means there are always fans who want to attend games. Also, increasingly − and this is an annoyance to the Packers − visiting fans more and more are showing up at Lambeau Field. If secondary market prices fall, that could accelerate.

Dennis Garrity, president of Ashwaubenon-based ticket and tour provider Event USA , agreed that ticket prices will be lower initially, but a change in quarterback is not the only reason. The Packers' losing record last year, higher season ticket prices − which could mean more tickets on the secondary market − and inflation also could be factors.

"As the season plays out, and we can all see how the team's fortunes go, obviously then, the market ebbs and flows based upon those occurrences," Garrity said. "It will be an interesting season, no doubt about that."

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The five top influences for ticket prices are:

• Winning. Successful teams draw more fans, especially on the road, especially if they are the Packers, Pittsburgh Steelers, Dallas Cowboys, San Francisco 49ers or Buffalo Bills. Of those teams, the Packers play the Steelers in Pittsburgh this season.
• Weather.
• Travel , particularly if teams are close to one another, such as New York and Philadelphia or Green Bay and Chicago. "When you have two teams that are close by, there are just more buyers in the market. That is going to drive up prices," Zorn said. That's especially true if the teams are ...
• ... Rivals. Packers-Bears games, no matter how poorly one of the teams might be playing, are traditionally among the pricier tickets on the Green Bay schedule.
• Unique moments , such as Rodgers vs. Mahomes or Brady, or a much-anticipated player making his debut.

For many years, the Packers were handed schedules with the maximum or near maximum number of prime-time night games. Without Rodgers at quarterback, there likely will be more noon or 3:25 p.m. games. Only five of the team's 17 games in 2022 where at noon, and only one was at Lambeau Field. More noon or afternoon games could make ticket prices higher because they are easier for Packers fans, more than 80% of whom travel 50 miles or more to games.

No one knows, including NFL schedulers, how well Love will play, and in a quarterback-driven league, that's an important factor.

"There’s only been such a small sample size with Jordan Love," Zorn said. "Winning is always biggest variable for prices going up and down in a single season."

Garrity said the annual ticket price hike concerns some season ticket holders, who might respond by putting more tickets on the market, driving up supply.

"They feel that perhaps that should not have been done, especially after a disappointing season and when they're losing their franchise quarterback," Garrity said. "The state of the economy, and higher costs for consumers to conduct their daily lives, is also a factor. More will sell and less will buy."

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As ticket prices increased over the years, season ticket holders put more of their tickets up for sale to cover the cost of the whole package. Generally, they could sell tickets for more than face value, helping to cover the costs for the games they chose to attend. There were several games last year, in the midst of a mediocre season that included some unattractive opponents, that tested this approach.

Tickets in the Lambeau Field bowl range from $128 to $165. The full-season cost to season tickets holders ranges from $320 for the least expensive Gold package to $1,073 for the most expensive Green package. The Gold package this year includes one preseason and two regular-season games, the Green package one preseason and six regular-season home games.

The Packers know who their opponents will be in 2023, but not the schedule, which the NFL is expected to release in May.

In addition to playing the Bears, Minnesota Vikings and Detroit Lions home and away, 2023 opponents include the Kansas City Chiefs, Los Angeles Chargers, Los Angeles Rams, New Orleans Saints and Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Lambeau Field, and Atlanta Falcons, Carolina Panthers, Denver Broncos, Las Vegas Raiders, New York Giants and Pittsburgh Steelers on the road.

Contact Richard Ryman at rryman@gannett.com . Follow him on Twitter at @RichRymanPG, on Instagram at @rrymanPG or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/RichardRymanPG/.

This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Aaron Rodgers' departure could make Green Bay Packers tickets cheaper next season