SPORTS

Ticket market holds steady for Colts' first game against Patriots after DeflateGate

Mark Alesia
IndyStar
New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady.

The Colts' shaky start and Andrew Luck's injury haven't slowed the resale market for tickets to Tom Brady's first visit to Lucas Oil Stadium after "DeflateGate."

"I was kind of thinking it might," said Jeff McGuinness of Crossroads Tickets in Indianapolis. "The Colts started off bad, but it hasn't really taken a toll. Had they lost (Thursday night at Houston), it might have. But I haven't seen any drastic drops in the New England or Denver games."

Chris Leyden of online broker SeatGeek said Friday that the average resale price for a ticket to the New England game Oct. 18 is $228. It's $230 for the Denver game Nov. 8.

Nine days before last year's New England game at Lucas Oil Stadium, the average resale price was $188, Leyden said. The price for last season's AFC Championship game between the Colts and Patriots, in New England, was $579.

Leyden said prices for this season's Patriots game remained "relatively consistent" through the Colts' 0-2 start followed by three victories, not all of them impressive.

The cheapest listing price on Friday afternoon for a ticket in Section 143 — on the first level, between the 10- and 20-yard lines — was $649 on SeatGeek. Face value is $140.

The cheapest listing price for Section 627 — in the upper level behind an end zone — was $167. Face value is $44.

The cheapest ticket listed by online broker StubHub was $105 on Friday afternoon.

StubHub spokesman Kevin Burke said 7 percent of the searches for tickets to the game came from the Boston area. It was 6 percent on SeatGeek.

The Colts game would have been Brady's first game of the season if a four-game suspension hadn't been overturned by a federal judge.

Brady was accused of being complicit in the use of under-inflated footballs during the Patriots' 45-7 victory over the Colts in the AFC Championship.

Contact Star reporter Mark Alesia at (317) 444-6311 and follow him on Twitter: @markalesia.