The Cleveland Browns announced a deal this week: six dollars for a ticket to their Christmas Eve home game against San Diego. Browns-Chargers, six dollars. SIX! This number is so small AP style says it must be spelled out in letters rather than in numerals.
This deal is outlandish, but not really out of the ordinary. Not for Cleveland. You can attend the Browns' game against the Giants this weekend for as cheap as $7.50 on StubHub. For some perspective, the cheapest ticket to The Game between College Football Playoff contenders Michigan and Ohio State this weekend is $200 on StubHub.
These two games are one day and 143 miles apart, and lightyears apart in terms of fan interest.
Check out the comparison:
Giants at Browns: $7.50
Wolverines at Buckeyes: $200.00
Let's take this one level deeper.
Say you're a Browns fan who lives in New York and wants to see an NFL game on Sunday, December 11. It would be cheaper for you to fly to Cleveland, stay a couple nights at an AirBnB, and attend the Browns-Bengals game that day than for you to attend the Giants-Cowboys game at the Meadowlands the same day. Here's how:
| A round trip flight from New York to Cleveland (leave Saturday December 10, return Tuesday December 13) | $192.00 |
| Two nights at the cheapest AirBnB in Cleveland (Diane's Couch) (Cleaning Fee) (Service Fee) |
$20.00 ($9.00) ($4.00) |
| One Browns-Bengals ticket on StubHub (StubHub Fees) |
$9.50 ($0.95) |
| Total | $235.45 |
| Driving to LaGuardia and flying to Cleveland (with a six hour layover in Boston, each way) to sleep on a stranger's couch and watch the Browns get beat by an AJ Green and Gio Bernard-less Bengals team? | Priceless |
| One Giants-Bengals ticket on StubHub (StubHub Fees) |
$219.00 ($21.90) |
| Total | $240.90 |
| Not being in Cleveland | Priceless |
This is brutal, even by Cleveland sports standards.
Hahahahahahahaha pic.twitter.com/8sIxKbbcx7
— med (@med11n) November 20, 2016
