From the moment Aaron Rodgers arrived in New York, the hype started building. After years of being held back by poor quarterback play, the Jets finally had their answer under center. A closer look at how well Rodgers was gelling with the team's young nucleus on HBO's Hard Knocks bolstered the excitement. Bets on the Jets to win the Super Bowl poured in and they became one of the hottest tickets in town -- right up there with the Broadway shows and concerts Rodgers was attending as he enjoyed the social perks of moving from Green Bay to New York. All went according to plan in Rodgers' brief appearance during the preseason finale, as he came away healthy and threw a touchdown pass to Garrett Wilson, showing a glimpse of what was expected to be one of the NFL's most potent QB-WR connections.
Then the first regular season game came, and it all fell apart. Still searching for his first official completion as a Jet, Rodgers dropped back for what was scripted as a quick slant to Wilson on the team's fourth offensive play, but he didn't like what he saw and held onto the ball. Left tackle Duane Brown had thrown a cut block that would have slowed pass rusher Leonard Floyd down enough for Rodgers to get a quick throw off, but with the play now off schedule, Floyd had a free run at New York's new franchise quarterback. Rodgers tried to escape the sack attempt but was twisted down, and a ripple could be seen in his left calf as he fell. The 39-year-old QB stood up but quickly realized something was wrong and sat back down on to the turf, with a mix of dejection and disbelief on his face.
It was initially deemed an ankle injury on the Monday Night Football broadcast, but tests on Rodgers' leg would soon confirm the Jets' worst fear: a season-ending Achilles tear. Much-maligned backup Zach Wilson replaced Rodgers and led the Jets to a win over the AFC East rival Bills. Wilson is quietly 5-0 in games that promising young running back Breece Hall also plays, so maybe all hope isn't lost for the Jets after all given their elite defense and potentially potent running game. The fans that bought tickets to see Rodgers don't care, though. Ticket prices for subsequent games have experienced a noticeable drop since the star QB's season-ending injury in Week 1.
Per Forbes.com, Jets resale ticket prices went up 47 percent year over year between May of 2022 and May of 2023 after New York officially completed its trade for Rodgers in April. Heading into the season, single-game Jets tickets under $150 were nearly nonexistent on Ticketmaster or Stubhub for any of the team's first five games -- four official home games and an Oct. 29 "road" game against the Giants, who play in the same venue -- at MetLife Stadium. Tickets under $120 for the team's Week 3 clash with the Patriots on Sept. 24 were nowhere to be found before. Now, you can get in the door for under $100. Similar decreases of $20-to-$30 at the lowest ranges, and even larger price drops for premium seats occurred for the team's Oct. 1 matchup with the Chiefs and its Oct. 15 tilt against the Eagles. Fans who were once excited to see the Rodgers-led Jets go toe-to-toe with teams that played in the last Super Bowl are far less interested in attending those same games with the home team now a significant underdog.
The priciest ticket in town all along has been for the Oct. 29 Jets-Giants game, with few tickets available under $200 and none under $180. Those elevated prices have been unaffected by Rodgers' injury, suggesting that the demand for tickets remains high thanks to Giants fans, whose enthusiasm has wavered less from a 40-0 loss to the rival Cowboys in primetime than the Jets fans' did from losing Rodgers, even though they still won without him against a Bills team that went 13-3 last year.
