Las Vegas' Super Bowl formula: Betting, brilliance and — somehow — bargains

LAS VEGAS — "Cheap" and the Super Bowl don't exactly go together.

Every year, as soon as two teams clinch their spots with victories in the respective conference-title games, thoughts turn to money. A lot of it.

The state of the ticket market is an annual discussion point, with seating costs outstripping those at virtually every other major sporting event on the planet. Nearby real estate like the luxury mansions surrounding Phoenix for last year's big game command extraordinary sums, sometimes in the six-figure range for the week.

Parties in the Super Bowl's host city attract the rich and famous, some so exclusive that you shouldn't bother trying to get until unless you're at least one of those two things — preferably both.

In many ways, Super Bowl LVIII is no different, with the cost of admission to Sunday's game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers on the secondary market fluctuating over the past few days but generally starting above $5,000 and with an average hovering near $9,000.

And yet, if a certain type of Super Bowl experience is more your thing, as long as you're prepared to get out of town with a healthy amount of time to spare before kickoff at Allegiant Stadium, this year's event offers a remarkable opportunity.

"We have basically flipped it this year," Ryan Fiedler, a 49ers fan and real-estate executive based in Los Angeles told me, as he arrived at the Luxor hotel on Monday afternoon, having driven from California.

Fiedler isn't just coming to Vegas because his team booked its place by winning the NFC eliminator against the Detroit Lions. He and a group of buddies have spent Super Bowl weekend in Sin City for the past five years — even when the game was in L.A. in 2022 — watching the action in a sports book, placing bets and partying to their heart's content.

"This time we are staying until Thursday," Fielder said. "Then we're out of here."

Fielder's logic was based on one of the quirkiest facts about this Super Bowl, and this city in general. Hotel prices — for the start of the biggest week in football — are as "what the heck" cheap from Monday through Thursday as they are wallet-bursting expensive over the weekend.

Rooms at the Luxor, which is a short ride from the NFL Experience fan fest at Mandalay Bay Convention Center, could be had recently for as low as $38 per night. Prices were up to $90 by Monday, while a similar room at the same property will reach $450 over the weekend.

At the Bellagio, accommodations priced at $250 midweek will set someone back $1,700 if they wish to stay Saturday night, while even the Residence Inn by the airport, in a nondescript part of Las Vegas removed from the excitement of the Strip, was posting a $989 Saturday rate.

"The interesting thing is that people come to Las Vegas to watch the Super Bowl every year," local historian and UNLV professor Michael Green told me. "It is going to be interesting to see how it plays out this time, and whether those same people stay away or just come earlier."

The availability of cheap early-week prices, combined with several specials run by hotels, restaurants, and ahem, establishments most likely to be frequented late into the evening, has largely gone under the radar so far.

As you'd expect, such things are almost entirely determined by factors of supply and demand.

"This (pattern) is typical for any major-event weekend, and the pattern we anticipate seeing this week here in Las Vegas," Lance Evans, MGM Resorts International's Senior Vice President of Sports & Sponsorships wrote in an email.

"The (fans) will definitely feel the energy and will see everything coming together for the weekend."

For the fans in attendance, there may be no better time to spot players, with so many athletes from teams other than the Chiefs and the Niners coming either to relax and enjoy themselves or take part in a variety of promotional opportunities.

On Monday, a five-minute stroll through the lobbies of both the Luxor and the Mandalay Bay was long enough to spot more than a dozen current players.

Vegas and the NFL have maintained a strange relationship over the years. Only two decades ago, the league was so concerned about being associated with gambling that it vetoed a Super Bowl commercial advertising Las Vegas' appeal, even though it did not explicitly reference betting.

Things are very different now, with the Raiders having moved here and this year's game meaning Vegas is the first city to have hosted the trifecta of the Super Bowl, the Pro Bowl and the NFL Draft.

Las Vegas civic officials have made no secret of the fact that they would love this corner of Nevada to become a regular part of the Super Bowl hosting cycle, while also advertising Vegas' appeal as somewhere people should return to at this time of year, even when the Super Bowl is not here.

The Super Bowl will always be a star-studded occasion, and you don't have to take too many steps down the Strip to realize that big money is already in town.

However, this year, football's grandest game offers something for the penny-pinchers as well — but you'd better be quick.

Martin Rogers is a columnist for FOX Sports and the author of the FOX Sports Insider newsletter. Follow him on Twitter @MRogersFOX and subscribe to the daily newsletter.