The Atlanta Falcons will welcome the New Orleans Saints this Sunday in their first game of the 2014 NFL season. After going just 4-12 last season following a 2012 season that saw the team reach the NFC Championship Game, the Falcons will be hard pressed to return to postseason form in 2014. Atlanta won’t catch any breaks early, either, as the Atlanta Falcons schedule is set to open against the Saints and then have the team travel to Cincinnati the following week to play the Bengals, who have clinched playoff berths in each of the past three seasons. With the Saints in town this weekend, however, Falcons tickets will be the most expensive of the season on the secondary market, according to TiqIQ.
The average price for Falcons tickets this season is $146.29, but Falcons vs Saints tickets currently average $244.27, marking a 67% increase in secondary market price for Sunday’s game. The get-in price starts at $115, which is also the most expensive get-in price at home on the Falcons schedule this season. The Georgia Dome last hosted the Saints on November 21 last season, with the Saints taking the game over the Falcons 17-13.
The Falcons-Saints rivalry is one of the more underrated stories in the NFL. Since both team’s inception in the 1960’s, spirited fans have filled both domes – mindfully designed to bar the Southern weather on hot fall days and inclement winter nights – especially in the wake of Hurricane Katrina in 2006, when both teams renewed their rivalry at the Superdome during a nationally televised Monday Night Football game. In regular season games since 1967, Atlanta leads the series 46-43 over New Orleans.
As the teams prepare to battle on Sunday, secondary ticket prices are the most expensive at the Georgia Dome this year. Only a December 14 matchup against the Steelers trails closely behind, as the average price for the mid-December game is $232.39. The Falcons will be tested early in the season but ticket price for home games remains relatively high, especially for their home opener against the Saints this weekend.
