bananas

An NFL Wife Reveals How Super Bowl Planning Works For Families

Loving this insider information — and yes, even infants need to pay for tickets.

by Katie Garrity
Updated: 
Originally Published: 
An NFL wife explained in her TikTok video that prepping for the Super Bowl can be stressful for play...
Emily Bushman / TikTok

Kids under a certain age typically get free entry to most attractions and events — Disneyland, airplane trips, amusement parks, or movie theaters. Super Bowl LVIII is one major event that won’t be on that list. Every single person, including newborn babies, will need a high-priced ticket to get through the gates.

Emily Bushman, NFL wife of Kansas City Chiefs tight end Matt Bushman, explained in her TikTok video that prepping for the Super Bowl can be stressful for players with families.

Bushman explains that about two weeks out (so basically right after the teams figure out that they’re heading to the big game), the players start to get all of the logistics figured out. This includes making sure everyone who needs to be at the Super Bowl gets a ticket.

“The players get a certain amount of tickets for the Super Bowl, and only two of them are comped. The rest of the tickets are either purchased by the player or the family and this year, the tickets are about four times as much as they usually are,” Bushman explained.

I don’t think I need to go into an explanation about why tickets for this year’s Super Bowl are astronomically higher in price than in previous years. Despite the jump in cost, Bushman will need to shake it off.

Super Bowl players also are in charge of listing off every single person in their party who will be staying in the official hotels, flying on the team plan, who's going to the tailgate, and everyone who's going to the post-game party.

Bushman says that only a certain amount of people can be attached to each player, and yes, this includes newborn babies.

“Just like was explained in the Kelce documentary, even newborns count as a ticket,” Bushman says while out on a walk with her child.

In the Amazon Prime sports documentary, Kelce, cameras follow Jason Kelce’s journey during what may have been his last season as a center for the Philidelphia Eagles. One infamous scene in the film features Jason’s wife, Kylie Kelce, flabbergasted over the cost of Super Bowl tickets for their family.

"Alright, I'm doing the maximum amount of tickets that you can purchase, because that's the amount we were counting for," she says, before realizing the tickets would cost $50,000. "This is why I don't go on the calculator on my phone."

"It's a lot of money," Jason acknowledges.

"We're paying almost $4,000 for a f**king kid who is not going to sit in a seat to watch her dad play in a game. That's bananas," she says.

Just a year later, ticket prices seem to be even more costly for NFL families. Bushman goes on to explain that they’re figuring out a workaround for this NFL rule.

“So, thankfully my mom's gonna watch my girls during the game, and it's all part of the fun of getting organized, but that's what the players have been going through this week. Getting all this organized helps them to get focused on the game for next week.”

After Bushman’s video went viral, several followers commented with follow-up questions for the NFL WAG.

“Can you talk a bit more about the whole ticket process? It’s so crazy they only give you guys 2 free tickets! Who handles the ticket requests? Are the seats good? Do you get to pick the section?! Etc.,” one user asked.

Bushman replied, “Lower bowl and upper bowl. We don’t get to pick where but pretty good seats, and there are nfl employees assigned to both nfl teams to handle all of the logistics as well as the teams player engagement employees.”

Another user asked, “What’s the suite process for superbowl? Do any players’ families get those or all celebrity purchase?”

“Any families with a suite purchase them 🥰,” the OP wrote back.

“Does the team need to fly home together after the game or can players stay in Vegas?” one follower questioned.

Bushman said, “Everyone has to fly home together the morning after the game.”

Other users were shocked that, yes, even newborn babies are required to have a ticket to the Super Bowl.

“newborns need a ticket? they dont even sit in a seat!” one user wrote.

Another said, “The nfl makes HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS off this and they can’t comp more than 2 tickets??”

“Newborns as a ticket is ridiculous. Yes on a plane if they are in a car seat need a ticket. They aren’t going to be sitting in a chair in the stands,” another echoed.

Like Kylie Kelce said, it’s bananas!

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