Browns ticket prices nose dive amid Deshaun Watson news

Tickets for Cleveland Browns football games are going for much less money this season on the secondary market, which could be due to the Deshaun Watson signing

Plenty of fans have said they won’t continue to follow the Cleveland Browns after they acquired Deshaun Watson, and there’s some data showing they might have been telling the truth.

Suddenly, ticket prices for Cleveland football games have started to drop — and according to Ticket IQ (⁦‪⁦‪@Ticket_IQ‬⁩ on Twitter)‬⁩, theirs have dropped more than every team other than the Washington Commanders.

"“The resale ticket site reports Browns tickets are down 31% on the secondary market going into the 2022 season, ahead of the Washington Commanders, whose tickets fell 37% from the 2021 season. Resale tickets for the Cincinnati Bengals rose 37%, the largest reported increase.” — FOX 8 on Ticket IQ’s report"

Cleveland added Watson this offseason from the Houston Texans in exchange for three first-round picks. They then handed their new quarterback a fully-guaranteed $230 million deal despite knowing he could be suspended for the majority of the 2022 season.

That ended up happening as it was announced on Thursday that Watson and the league agreed to a settlement, which will sideline him for 11 games — and will cost him $5 million in fines.

Is Deshaun Watson to blame for Browns falling prices?

Of course, the ticket prices might not be going down simply because people are upset about Watson wearing the orange and brown. It could simply be due to lower expectations this season.

With Watson out, Cleveland will be turning to Jacoby Brissett, who has 37 career starts but is known as a reserve. With him under center, the offense looks a lot less lethal than it does with Watson, which could be why some fans aren’t willing to pay for high-dollar tickets.

Brissett and the Browns offense is going to do all they can to keep their team in playoff contention until Watson returns but there’s been plenty of concern about the possibility of that happening — with some even clamoring for Jimmy Garoppolo to be added as the starter for the first 11 games.

Cleveland shows no desire to do this, so it would be surprising to see anything change on the resale market.