Use Points and Miles for Super Bowl LII Packages
Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.
Super Bowl LII is now less than a month away, with kickoff scheduled for February 4 at US Bank Stadium in Minneapolis. With my Atlanta Falcons surviving through the first playoff weekend, I began to look for outside ways of using my credit card perks or points to score a ticket to either the game itself or perhaps even one of the complete travel and ticket packages card issuers and loyalty programs often put up for bid.
If you happen to have hoarded Marriott points for the last several years or put six figures of spend on your Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card from American Express in 2017, you just may have a chance at finding yourself at the game next month.
Barclaycard NFL Extra Points
If you're a diehard NFL fan, the NFL Extra Points Credit Card with your favorite team's logo on the card could be a logical choice. The card earns 2 points per dollar spent on NFL DirecTV and team purchases, including those made in-stadium, at NFLShop.com and at team pro shops, and earns 1 point per dollar spent elsewhere. If you happen to spend enough to earn 175,000 NFL Extra Points, you can redeem them for two upper-level tickets to this year's Super Bowl. That's an extraordinary amount of spend to put on a card that only earns 1x points on the majority of annual expenses, so I can't say I'd recommend going this route.
Marriott
Courtyard Hotels is the official hotel chain of the NFL, so it's not surprising that Marriott Rewards Moments has three different packages up for bid. One's already closed, and the other two start at 1.3 million and 1.5 million Marriott Rewards points as of publish time. The packages include two tickets to the VIP Party at Vikings House presented by Courtyard on February 2, two suite tickets to the game, three nights in a Marriott property and round-trip airfare for two. Act fast, bidding for the last package ends January 10 at noon EST.
Starwood Preferred Guest
SPG Moments is auctioning off two Super Bowl packages, each consisting of two tickets to a suite with food and drinks during the game, a three-night stay at a Marriott property (remember the merger), two tickets to the VIP Party at Viking House presented by Courtyard, round-trip airfare and transportation to and from the hotel for the duration of your stay. Both auctions end January 10 at 11am EST, and the bids stand at 560,000 and 580,000 Starpoints for the two packages.
Based on the latest TPG valuations, 580,000 Starpoints are worth $15,660. The cheapest Super Bowl tickets on Stubhub are currently $4,400 each and you can still get hotels and flights for cheaper than the remaining $7,000 this package is worth. I don't recommend redeeming this many Starpoints for the package, unless you somehow find yourself in possession of a few million Starpoints.
United MileagePlus
If you're approaching 600,000 United miles in your account, two tickets to the game along with round-trip United economy airfare, hotel and a rental car allowance can be yours via the MileagePlus Exclusives auction site. The auction runs until January 23 at noon CST, and the bid sat at 551,000 miles at the time of publishing this post.
Bottom Line
My account balances fall woefully short of the amount of points or miles needed to secure a travel package auction this year. These rates are so high that I can't recommend anyone use their points or miles in this manner — especially considering the free premium-cabin flights and hotel rooms you're giving up around the world in order to go to a single football game. That said, the only hope for the average Joe looking for tickets this year is winning a sweepstakes, like the Bud Light Super Bowl Tickets for Life contest.