5 Great Tips For Booking A Super Bowl Experience To Atlanta

I can’t believe it, but this year’s Super Bowl in Atlanta will be my 22nd year taking part in the celebration of the NFL’s championship game. Although I have not sat in the stands for every single one of those 22 games, I have been fortunate to have had the opportunity to help others attend by assisting them in creating their own once-in-a-lifetime Super Bowl experiences.

My first company, Tuchman Sports Enterprises, was an innovator as one of the first businesses to create bespoke experiences for fans to attend the Super Bowl. Each year, I continue to learn more, and use my knowledge to design unique experiences to help clients access prime seating arrangements, gain entry to the most exclusive parties, land the most coveted hotel accommodations and attend the hottest pre-game activities, where meeting and greeting NFL stars is commonplace.

Leading up to Super Bowl, here are five things you should know if you are thinking about heading to Atlanta. 

1. When should I buy my Super Bowl tickets?

To say a lot has changed in ticketing over the past 20 years is an understatement, but one thing I still recommend is purchasing your tickets early, and not waiting to see if prices drop, since it’s much more likely that the market will end up going the other way. If you are daring, and willing to wait until the absolute last minute – meaning game day, which I don’t advise – then you might find a 20-30% discount. Remember that the Super Bowl ticket market is just like the equity markets, so it’s always going to be hard to time a purchase. Currently, pricing on the secondary market is starting at over $4,000, but you can expect that to move up and down over the next two weeks. The market will fluctuate based on hype, but it all comes down to supply and demand. I would not recommend waiting until the last 48 hours to see where it shakes out, unless you really enjoy the gamble.

 2. Where should I stay if I’m from out of town?

Many people planning their first Super Bowl trip will seek out a hotel near the stadium, but don’t focus on proximity to the big game. Instead, go where the action is! Remember that if you’re going to the game, you will only be at the stadium for a few hours, and the rest of the excitement will be centralized in the downtown area of Atlanta. You will want to spend the remainder of your trip taking in all that the city has to offer, especially since Atlanta has spent millions of dollars revitalizing Downtown and Midtown since its last Super Bowl in 2000. People are going to be surprised to see how much has changed for the better.

 Keep in mind, however, that 90% of all hotel rooms are pre-reserved for the NFL and its sponsors. A good portion of the other 10% of rooms are purchased years in advance by third party firms who sell all-inclusive packages for individuals looking to attend the big game. There are also travel companies that purchase blocks of hotel rooms in advance to resell individually. If you don’t mind paying market rate for rooms, you will find plenty of options from secondary sources. A four-star property in a good Atlanta location can cost upwards of $1,000 per night with a three-night minimum, while some premier hotels are fetching more than $2,000 per night.

 3. What parties should I attend?

The last time the Super Bowl was played in Atlanta 19 years ago, I had the privilege of helping create the first-ever Playboy party. That event took place at a small bar in Buckhead, and it’s safe to say things have changed on the Super Bowl party circuit since then. Media companies, who dominate the space, pour millions of dollars into their extravaganzas. I definitely can tell you that, if you have no rooting interests, Super Bowl parties will be the best thing about your weekend. Part of what makes these parties so exciting is the celebrity attendees and performers. Rolling Stone one of the absolute best recently announced their 8th Annual Big Game Weekend Event, which will feature a mix of old and new acts from Atlanta, while the Foo Fighters are headlining the DirecTV event, and both Snoop Dogg and Lil Wayne will be performing at the Sports Illustrated party. Most tickets on the open market will go from $500 to $1,500, depending on the party, and access is usually very limited. The great news is that there are plenty of options, but make sure you stick with the ones with a long history.

 4. How do I get to meet NFL players? 

The Super Bowl is the perfect chance for fans to interact with NFL players, both past and present. If you really want your own once-in-a-lifetime experience, there are ways to arrange personal meet and greets with athletes. Most current and former NFL players receive between $5,000 and $15,000 for a two-hour appearance during Super Bowl week. Tons of players come to Super Bowl specifically to make one-off appearances for companies. Golf outings, cocktail parties, dinners, Q&A’s – these are things I have been arranging for years.

 5. When should I book my airplane tickets?

If you know you are going to the game, make your flight reservations as early as possible. Note that sometimes there are routes to cities close to the host city that might be cheaper, or offer shorter flight times. With this year’s big game taking place in Atlanta, Birmingham Shuttlesworth International Airport, Montgomery or Chattanooga, Tennessee could be options, but since Atlanta International Airport actually sees the highest volume of flights in the world, this year it might not matter. There will be plenty of Super Bowl-bound flights at relatively good prices for you to choose from.

 If it comes down to it and you want assistance in booking a package my current company, EBG Premium Experiences, has all the bases covered with our Super Bowl LIII packages. We’ve done all the heavy lifting by putting together a turnkey travel package that guarantees a seamless, once-in-a-lifetime Super Bowl experience for our clients.