Major Sporting Event Tickets

The events fans plan a year around

A handful of American sporting events work differently from a regular-season game: they happen once a year, often in a fixed place on a fixed weekend, and most of the seats are spoken for long before the public sees them. This hub covers eight of them, the Super Bowl, the Kentucky Derby, the Indianapolis 500, the Daytona 500, the Masters, the US Open tennis championships, WrestleMania and the NFL Draft.

What they share is scarcity and travel. What separates them is the ticket system. The Masters sells through a random lottery and a closed patrons list, the Super Bowl through hospitality packages and resale, the Derby through two-day packages, and the NFL Draft is largely free. Understanding the system before you shop is the single most useful step, because it tells you where real inventory comes from and when it appears.

The calendar, month by month

The big events cluster in late winter and spring, which makes it possible to build a season of trips around them.

• February: the Super Bowl on the second Sunday of the month, with Super Bowl LXI set for February 14, 2027, at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California; then the Daytona 500, NASCAR's season opener, scheduled for February 21, 2027.
• March and April: WrestleMania, held over two nights between mid-March and mid-April at a rotating host stadium, with Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, announced for 2027; and the Masters at Augusta National Golf Club during the first full week of April.
• Late April and May: the NFL Draft, set for April 29 to May 1, 2027, on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.; the Kentucky Derby on the first Saturday in May, May 1, 2027, with the Kentucky Oaks the day before; and the Indianapolis 500 on the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend, May 30, 2027.
• Late August to early September: the US Open at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Queens, New York.

Dates and hosts for rotating events are announced years ahead but can change, so confirm on the event's own site before booking travel.

Why every event sells tickets differently

Each of these events controls its inventory in its own way, and the resale market reflects that structure.

• Super Bowl: there is no public single-game on-sale in the usual sense. The NFL directs fans to On Location hospitality packages and to its resale exchange, and demand turns sharply once the two teams are set about two weeks before kickoff.
• The Masters: four-day series badges go only to a closed patrons list, while practice-round and single-day tickets are awarded by a random online lottery months in advance.
• Kentucky Derby: most reserved seats are sold as two-day Oaks and Derby packages that include food and drink, while the infield is general admission.
• Indianapolis 500: returning ticket holders get first right to reorder, so the most sought-after stands often sell out before a general on-sale.
• Daytona 500: every seat is reserved, and many are bundled into multi-day race-week packages.
• WrestleMania: two-night combination tickets go on sale first, with single-night tickets released months later.
• US Open: a grounds pass gives general admission to Louis Armstrong Stadium's general admission areas, the Grandstand and the field courts, but not to Arthur Ashe Stadium, which needs its own ticket.
• NFL Draft: general access has been free and first come, first served, with paid hospitality near the stage.

Choosing where to sit, stand or roam

A good seat means something different at each event. A few rules of thumb carry across them.

• At the speedways, sit high. At Daytona, upper rows near the tri-oval see more of the track than low rows at the fence, where the cars pass in a blur. At Indianapolis, the main-straightaway stands see the start, the finish and pit stops, and a higher row in a lesser stand usually beats a front row in a premium one.
• At the Derby, decide between a reserved seat with catering and the general admission infield, which is a festival with limited views of the race itself.
• At the Masters, there are no assigned seats. A ticket is admission to the grounds, and patrons walk the course and choose where to watch, so the real choice is the day: practice rounds are more relaxed, while the weekend crowds are deepest around Amen Corner.
• At the US Open, shade is the main seating question in late-summer afternoons, and a grounds pass is the best value for seeing many matches up close early in the tournament.
• At the Super Bowl and WrestleMania, standard stadium logic applies: lower-level sideline seats (or floor and lower seats facing the main camera for WrestleMania) carry the highest demand, and upper-level sideline seats are the value pick.

Each event guide goes deeper on its own layout, including which grandstands or sections to target and which to skip.

The travel side of a big event

For most fans, the ticket is only part of the trip. The Sports Events and Tourism Association estimated that 109.7 million people traveled 50 miles or more to attend sporting events in 2024, and 63.5 million stayed overnight, generating 47.1 billion dollars in direct spending (Sports ETA). Hotels in host cities tighten for these weekends first.

• Book refundable lodging early for fixed-site events such as the Derby, Masters and Indy 500, where the date is known a year ahead.
• Build in a buffer for rotating events such as the Super Bowl, where the matchup is set late and flights fill quickly afterward.
• Plan the last mile. Race days and Derby Day bring traffic that can add hours; arrive early and check official shuttle and parking plans.

Spending on live sports keeps climbing: U.S. consumer spending on spectator sports admissions reached 43.5 billion dollars in 2025, according to Bureau of Economic Analysis data in nominal terms (FRED). Every GoodSeats order is backed by a 100% guarantee.

Rules, traditions and what to bring

Several of these events have rules stricter than an ordinary stadium, and they are enforced at the gate.

• The Masters prohibits mobile phones on the grounds during the tournament, a rule that surprises first-time patrons.
• The Derby has no strict dress code in most areas, but it is a dress-up event: most people wear a hat, and the higher you sit in the clubhouse, the dressier the crowd.
• Stadium events such as the Super Bowl and WrestleMania typically follow the host stadium's clear-bag policy.
• Race days have their own cooler and bag rules, which differ by track.

These policies change; as of 2026 they are as described in each event guide, and you should check the event's current rules before you go. The guides on stadium bag policies and event-day planning cover the general rules, and the guide on how to avoid ticket scams is worth reading before any high-demand purchase.

More major events

Beyond the events above, Good Seats has guides to the U.S. Open Golf Championship and its rotating host courses, Wimbledon and its public ballot and Queue, the Tour de France and its free roadside viewing, the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at the end of the Formula 1 season, the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament, the FIFA Intercontinental Cup, and live WWE events such as Raw and SmackDown.

Sources

• Sports ETA: 2024 State of the Industry (dossier GS-044)
• BEA via FRED: spectator sports admissions (dossier GS-024)
• Wikipedia: Super Bowl
• Wikipedia: Masters Tournament
• Kentucky Derby: tickets
• Wikipedia: Indianapolis 500
• Wikipedia: Daytona 500
• Wikipedia: WrestleMania
• Wikipedia: US Open (tennis)
• Wikipedia: NFL draft