Looking to buy Vikings playoff tickets? Here's where you can track the latest prices

Tickets are in short supply for the Minnesota Vikings' first home playoff appearance since 2018 — and they won't come cheap.

The vast majority of reserved tickets — about 60,000 — are held by season ticket members, with the remainder controlled by Vikings players, coaches and staff, plus for the visiting team, said Jeff Anderson, chief communications officer of the Vikings.

That leaves about 6,000 tickets for the wild-card game against the New York Giants on Sunday at U.S. Bank Stadium.

Up-to-the-minute ticket prices: Ticket King | Seat Geek

About 95% of season-ticket holders locked in their existing seats for the playoffs through the Vikings' pay-as-you-play program. Last week, the Vikings released the unclaimed seats to the general public and, as of Friday, had fewer than 2,000 seats available for sale, Anderson said.

About a quarter of ticket buys on the secondary ticket market happen the week before the game, according to Ticketmaster, the NFL's official ticket partner. About 15% of the tickets are sold in the three days before the game.

Prices for the Vikings-Giants fell early in the week and then crept up a bit on SeatGeek, which has been an official secondary ticket provider of the NFL since 2018..

Prices have been similar to the average selling price on Ticket King, a local secondary ticket seller with offices in Minneapolis and St. Paul, said owner Michael Nowakowski.

In case you're wondering, the average ticket price for the Vikings' 2018 NFC divisional round home against the New Orleans Saints was $290 on SeatGeek.

Both Nowakowski and Chris Leyden, Seat Geek's director of consumer strategy, advise against buying playoff tickets on websites like Craigslist. While people think they are getting a great deal, tickets can be fakes and usually there is no recourse for a refund, they said. If a person can't track the whereabouts of the seller and the ticket isn't verified by a NFL-approved platform, stay away, they said.

If a person is offering a paper ticket, or claims they can email the ticket to you — instead of the link to the mobile ticketing platform — it's likely to be a scam, Nowakowski said. Nearly all ticket exchanges are finalized on the platform, he said.

If the platform is not an approved ticket partner of the NFL, or does not have a longstanding, favorable reputation among consumers, fans should buy from a ticket seller that has a brick and mortar presence, so if there is an issue, there is the opportunity for recourse, Nowakowski said.

Buyers who have the financial means should buy their tickets as soon as possible. The risk of playing the waiting game to save $20 — or even $30 — per ticket is not worth the stress, Nowakowski said. Most fans spend hours, even days, scouring the internet for the cheapest tickets, when price differentials are minimal.

All the while, supply continues to diminish and prices can quickly move out of one's range, he said.

Yet others disagree, especially if the average price is a reach. They say being bold and playing the waiting game is probably your best option. In some extremely rare instances, fans have found low prices minutes before kickoff, or during the first quarter of the game, Leyden said.

If you're an optimist and expect the Vikings to win Sunday, now also is a good time to buy tickets for the division playoff game. The Vikings could host it, depending on the matchup. Buying tickets for the second round yields a buying advantage over fans that wait until the conclusion of wild-card weekend. If the Vikings lose Sunday, most reputable ticket sellers will fully refund tickets bought for the second round matchup, Nowakowski said.

If you're not going to the game, list your tickets as soon as possible, Nowakowski and Leyden said. And if you're selling, pay attention to the market. If prices are dropping, don't keep your prices above the average. Yet if the average price rises, you want to increase your ticket price, too.

Fans naturally search for the cheapest ticket, not knowing that for just $10 or $15 more, they can sit closer to the field or have a better view, leading to an overall better experience, Leyden said.

View the U.S. Bank Stadium seating chart before finalizing the ticket purchase. Bottom level, middle-of-the-field seats, those situated between the 30-yard-line marks, are typically more expensive than seats in the upper level and corners of stadiums because they offer a wide view of the entire field, Leyden said.

Yet corner seats offer views into player tunnels. Seats behind the end zone — which are often cheaper than middle of the field — come with the added bonus of witnessing a touchdown being scored. Of course, with those seats, you will also need to rely on the jumbo screen when the action is at the other end of the field.

Fans should keep in mind that seats closest to the field are in high demand and short supply. The more particular you are, the fewer options you have, Nowakowski said.

Finally, think about splitting up. Individual seats or two together are much easier to get than a group of three or more, Leyden said. Sitting in the same section, or even same row, will be a win this week.