Sports Tickets Weekly Episode 21: A hundred and sixty-three dollars for the best record in football
Buffalo won twenty-three to six on Monday night, and the seat we sent you to cost a hundred and seventy-seven dollars.
0:00 / 11:41
Sports Tickets Weekly Episode 21: A hundred and sixty-three dollars for the best record in football
Two teams in football are seven and one. Both play on the road this week, and both are cheap: 163 dollars for Buffalo at the Jets, 245 for San Francisco at Dallas. The best ticket on the board is neither of them. It is Pittsburgh at Cincinnati, where both teams are six and two, first place in the AFC North is on the line, and the cheapest seat is 276. 12
The record is not what you are buying. That is this week's argument, and the money proves it three ways.
The week in basketball
The Lakers are 11-2 and have won seven straight, the last of them 123-112 in Milwaukee on Wednesday. San Antonio is 10-2 and has won ten in a row. Boston is 10-2 after 98-93 in Toronto, Philadelphia is 9-3, and Detroit is 7-3. Cleveland won 115-107 in New York, which leaves the Knicks at 6-5. 34
Sunday is the good slate. Boston hosts Dallas, where the cheapest seat is 117 dollars on an average of 506, with 3,717 tickets listed and the most expensive at 14,037. The Lakers are in Phoenix on Sunday afternoon, and that one starts at 60. 56
Sixty dollars for an 11-2 team is 103 dollars less than a 7-1 football team in New Jersey. Part of that is arithmetic, 41 home dates against eight. Part of it is that Phoenix is 4-6 and Los Angeles brings the buyers wherever it goes.
Tampa Bay's answer
Nikita Kucherov asked the Lightning to trade him. On Wednesday he scored three goals in an 8-3 win over Buffalo and added an assist, finishing plus three. 7
Tampa Bay is 12-4-2, level with Montreal on 26 points and one behind Boston's 27 at the top of the Atlantic. Montreal is in Boston tonight: 103 dollars to get in, on an average of 306, with the best listing at 3,018. 89
Saturday's game is Edmonton in Toronto. The Oilers have 31 points, more than anyone in the league, after a 3-2 overtime win in Philadelphia in which Zach Hyman scored twice. Toronto is 8-10-2 and fills the building anyway. From 206 dollars. 1011
Carolina and Minnesota are both on 30 points. 8
The clock and the awards
The collective bargaining agreement expires December 1. The league has proposed delaying the salary cap to 2028 at 258.2 million with a floor of 180.2 million, and the union says players would lose more than a billion dollars over the life of that proposal. 12
The awards are arriving while the clock runs. Jacob Misiorowski of the Brewers and Cam Schlittler of the Yankees won the Cy Young awards unanimously, in their first full seasons. Pat Murphy won the National League manager award for the third straight year, and Will Venable of the White Sox won the American League. Houston hired Brad Ausmus to manage, Washington signed outfielder Young for four years with a 2031 option, and the Mets meet Tarik Skubal next week. The first Reliever of the Year awards went to Mason Miller of the Padres and Louis Varland of the Blue Jays, who finished with a 1.27 ERA. 1314151617
What it means for a ticket is unchanged: do not buy Opening Day. Milwaukee's opener will be the one everybody wants, and it is the most exposed to a lockout.
What happened on Sunday
Green Bay 45-27 over New England, San Francisco 38-17 over Las Vegas, Buffalo 23-6 in Minneapolis, Jacksonville 33-10 in Baltimore on Thursday, Cincinnati 34-17 over Atlanta in Madrid, Dallas 27-23 over Indianapolis, Denver 26-21 over Carolina, the Rams 20-13 over Washington, Chicago 27-24 over Tampa Bay, New Orleans 23-22 over Cleveland, Seattle 17-3 over Arizona. Philadelphia lost its seventh straight, 19-11 to the Giants, and is 2-7. The Chargers are 0-8 after Houston beat them 44-22. 18
Four teams are off this week: Chicago, Denver, Philadelphia and Tampa Bay. 1
The two 7-1 teams are both on the road, Buffalo at the Jets (2-7) and San Francisco at Dallas (4-5). The only game this week between two 6-2 teams is Sunday night in Cincinnati. 1
The board, game by game
Every line gives the floor, the average where the marketplace publishes one, and the top listing where it is visible.
- Steelers at Bengals, Sunday, Paycor Stadium. Floor 276 on TickPick, average 866.58, top listing 11,899, 4,079 tickets left. StubHub's cheapest listing is 300 in an upper corner, and its next tier runs 311 to 334, all upper deck. The sticker ESPN carries, which points at Vivid Seats, is 291. 21920
- Vikings at Packers, Sunday, Lambeau Field. TickPick 325, average 900.36, top listing 11,894, 3,532 left. SeatGeek 320. Vivid, through ESPN, 335. 212223
- Patriots vs. Lions, Munich, Sunday. From 363, the most expensive ticket in the league this week and not in the league's home market. 1
Below those two, the ladder is set by the building rather than the standings: 49ers at Cowboys 245, Seahawks at Raiders 229, Bills at Jets 163, Chiefs at Falcons 124, Commanders at Giants tonight 54. The cheap end is Rams at Cardinals 39, Panthers at Saints 36, Dolphins at Colts 30, Texans at Browns 27 and Jaguars at Titans 25. 1
The worth-it pick is Sunday night in Cincinnati. It is the only game this week between two 6-2 teams, the winner is alone in first in the AFC North, and the bookmakers have it close: Cincinnati favored by 3.5, against Buffalo favored by 8.5 in New Jersey.
The averages at the top of the board are close, 866 at Paycor against 900 at Lambeau, so the average is not the difference. The floor is: 276 against 325, for two teams with identical records and first place on the line.
Every price here was read on November 12, 2026, between 16:05 and 16:25. TickPick adds no service fee to its listed price and publishes its own average; StubHub's figure is its cheapest single listing; SeatGeek's is its "from" price; the Vivid figures are the "tickets as low as" stickers on ESPN's schedule pages, which link to the event page. Top listings at this level are suites, not seats. Listings move after publication.
The two-week window
StatMuse's October 29 to November 12 window is led by Joe Burrow at 72 points, with Jordan Love second at 58.7 and Bucky Irving third at 45.5 on 267 rushing yards in two games. Kirk Cousins is fourth at 43.8, Drake Maye fifth at 43.7, Tee Higgins sixth at 42.7, Patrick Mahomes seventh at 41.9, Ja'Marr Chase eighth at 41.6 and Kenneth Walker tenth at 40.7. 24
The trap is the bye: Irving cannot help a lineup this week, and neither can anyone in Denver, Philadelphia or Chicago.
The line of the week is Burrow, and three of the top eight are Bengals who will be in the building on Sunday night.
References
- 1
- 2TickPick — Cincinnati Bengals home schedule
tickpick.com
- 3ESPN — NBA standings, 2026-27
espn.com
- 4
- 5TickPick — Boston Celtics home schedule
tickpick.com
- 6TickPick — Phoenix Suns home schedule
tickpick.com
- 7
- 8ESPN — NHL standings, 2026-27
espn.com
- 9TickPick — Boston Bruins home schedule
tickpick.com
- 10
- 11TickPick — Toronto Maple Leafs home schedule
tickpick.com
- 12
- 13
- 14
- 15ESPN — Astros hire Brad Ausmus
espn.com
- 16
- 17ESPN — Mets to meet with Skubal
espn.com
- 18ESPN — NFL scores, Week 9, 2026
espn.com
- 19
- 20Vivid Seats — Steelers at Bengals, November 15, 2026
vividseats.com
- 21TickPick — Green Bay Packers home schedule
tickpick.com
- 22SeatGeek — Green Bay Packers games
seatgeek.com
- 23Vivid Seats — Vikings at Packers, November 15, 2026
vividseats.com
- 24
This story was produced automatically by a channel. One sentence is all it takes for Neodrop to keep producing for you.