The surprise resurgence of the Detroit Lions — for decades a perennial NFL laughingstock — has fans clamoring for a chance to see the team when it hosts the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for the NFC Divisional Round playoff game on Sunday.
Secondhand ticket-selling websites are listing passes to the game at Detroit’s Ford Field for as much as $17,000 apiece.
A glance at Stubhub shows tickets for the Lions-Bucs game in Detroit selling at prices ranging from $494 each to $17,078 apiece.
There are also some nosebleed tickets stick available on TicketMaster selling for around $500.
TickPick, the online marketplace, reported that the average cost of a ticket for the game is $1,097 — making it the most expensive Divisional Round playoff game ever.
Standing room-only tickets for the game are selling for nearly $700, according to TickPick.
The Lions have sent the Motor City into a frenzy after their dramatic 24-23 home victory over the Los Angeles Rams last Sunday — the first playoff win for the franchise in 32 years.
The team reached the NFC Championship Game in 2022 with the great Barry Sanders at running back but has mostly languished toward the bottom of the pack over the decades.
The Lions’ last run of success the was in the pre-Super Bowl era, when it won three league titles between 1952 and 1957.
Celebrities who were born and bred in the Detroit area are planning on attending the game — making the Motor City the center of the sports universe this weekend.
Singer Bob Seger, actor Jeff Daniels, actor, writer and producer Keegan-Michael Key — all from Michigan — are expected to be on hand along with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and one of the team’s biggest fans: Eminem.
The rapper shared his fandom recently on Instagram, saying his New Year’s resolution was for the Lions to win the Super Bowl.
The Lions’ playoff run has shined fresh spotlight on their hometown, which is embracing its professional football team’s resurrection as a metaphor for the city’s economic comeback.
In the 1950s, Detroit was a thriving metropolis due to the economic might of the once-dominant American automobile industry.
But foreign competition as well as the shipping of manufacturing jobs overseas plunged the Motor City into decades of financial ruin — culminating in 2013, when it declared bankruptcy.
Since that period, Detroit has been undergoing a renaissance of sorts spurred on by companies relocating to its refurbished downtown area.
Earlier this month, a report by financial services firm CoreLogic found that Detroit was the fastest-appreciating housing market in the country — outpacing Miami.
“Detroit remains one of the most affordable large metros with median home price at less than $200,000,” Dr. Selm Hepp, the chief economist at CoreLogic, told The Post.
With Post Wires
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