If you've ever tried to get a ticket to the Super Bowl, you may have noticed that it's almost impossible, and this year is no exception. 

If you're a Chiefs or 49ers fan looking to attend the game, you're likely going to have to shell out nearly $5,000 on the secondary market, and that's just to get yourself into the game. If you want to go with a friend, go ahead and double that $5,000.  

Don't look for ticket prices to go down, either. Demand is likely only going to get stronger as the game approaches and that's due to both fan bases. On one hand, you have Chiefs fans, who haven't seen their team play in a Super Bowl in 50 years, and on the other hand, you have deep-pocketed 49ers fans, who mostly live in one of the most affluent areas in the country. 

The reason tickets are so hard to get is because the Super Bowl is the one game where the NFL accounts for every single ticket. There are no tickets sold to the general public. The league distributes tickets to all 32 teams and then keeps a cut for itself. 

For this year's game, the 49ers and Chiefs will each get 17.5% of the tickets -- or 35% total. This year, that amounts to roughly 11,375 tickets for each team since Hard Rock Stadium seats roughly 65,000. Those tickets will go to players, front office members and even some season-ticket holders, who will all pay face value. Although the NFL doesn't release face value prices for the Super Bowl anymore, the lowest face value ticket at Super Bowl LI was $950, which means the price is now likely more than $1,000 for the cheapest seat in the stadium. 

To put that in perspective, when the 49ers made their first appearance in the game back in Super Bowl XVI, the cheapest seat was just $40. 

Although each team will be getting roughly 11,375 tickets to the game this year, most of those don't end up in the hands of fans, because the team generally uses of a large portion of its tickets. Each player on the roster is given two complimentary tickets and then has the option to buy up to 13 more at face value, which means each player has access to up to 15 tickets. If all 53 players use up their allotment, that's 795 tickets out of circulation, and you still have to give tickets to the coaching staff, front office and other team employees. 

Those 13 extra tickets can also be expensive. If a player decides to put their family in a decent spot for the game, they could be paying upward of $2,000 per ticket, which would be $26,000. That's expensive for anyone, especially the younger players. Chiefs running back Darwin Thompson only made $34,000 per game in 2019, which means he'd have to use almost an entire game check to buy his entire ticket allotment. 

Back in 2016, 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan, who was the Falcons offensive coordinator at the time, freaked out when his personal backpack briefly disappeared after a team media session. Shahahan wasn't worried because he lost the team's digital playbook, he was worried because the backpack contained nearly $30,000 in Super Bowl tickets. 

Trying to decide who gets those extra tickets can be one of the most time-consuming things that a player has to deal with during the Super Bowl. Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes made it his goal to get the ticket thing out of the way this week so he can concentrate on football next week. 

"I think the biggest thing is these first few days trying to get everything settled as far as getting family and friends to the game, and everything like that, getting the tickets squared away, hotel rooms, stuff like that, so that going into the week I can really focus on the game plan and doing everything," Mahomes said, via PFT. "I've already watched film, Monday and Tuesday, but now getting family squared away so I can just focus in on doing what it takes in order to win it."

As for the rest of the Super Bowl tickets, the 30 teams that aren't playing in the game also get their cut. The host team gets the biggest allotment at 5%, which means the Dolphins might have some extra tickets. The other 29 teams then each get a 1.2% share of the tickets. The rest of the Super Bowl tickets go to the NFL, which means the league is in total control of 25.2%. According to Boston.com, many of those tickets go to On Location Experiences, which is the NFL's official hospitality provider. The league is expected to let that company handle roughly 10,000 tickets. 

Buying a ticket through the On Location is probably your best bet right now. As of this writing, a Super Bowl package, which includes one ticket and an all-inclusive pre-game party, was selling for under $4000. 

Between the teams and the league, that's 100 percent of the tickets, and that's why you can't find one at face value, but good luck trying.