By TIM BOOTH
The Associated Press
EDITOR’S NOTE: See related story today, “Some Arizona officials score free Super Bowl tickets,” BELOW.
PHOENIX (AP) — In previous years, the scenario for getting Super Bowl tickets at a reasonable price was simply waiting until the last possible minute to buy.
That was how it played out last year in New York where many fans got into MetLife Stadium by purchasing tickets the day of the game for less than the listed price.
But Sunday’s matchup between New England and Seattle is on pace to be the most expensive Super Bowl ticket in history. A shortage of tickets made available to brokers on the secondary market has driven prices into five figures even for nosebleed seats.
It’s left ticket companies having to offer refunds to buyers because the tickets never came through. And it’s left thousands of fans wandering around Phoenix without entry to University of Phoenix Stadium.
“I don’t have $10,000 that I want to give away,” Seahawks fan Mark Blair said.
As of midday Saturday the NFL Ticket Exchange, the league’s official ticket re-sale website, didn’t have tickets for less than $9,000. The cheapest ticket on StubHub was nearly the same. One listing on Craigslist in Phoenix was selling tickets for $8,000 each with the seller willing to meet the buyer at their bank to complete the transaction.
Cameron Papp, spokesman for StubHub, said the only other event that came close the level of ticket cost fans are seeing was the BCS championship game between Notre Dame and Alabama in Miami two years ago. Papp said the average ticket price sold on their site for this year’s game is currently $3,700. Last year it was $2,500.
“This is unprecedented really. We’ve never seen prices this high,” Papp said. “We have much lower inventory this year than we did in the past. A lot of people bought tickets early as compared to last year. Last year in New York everyone waited until the last couple of days to buy tickets because they were spooked by the weather. This year a lot of people bought early and we’re running out of tickets.”
The other factor is the higher demand because of the popularity of the two teams. Seattle fans have flooded the Phoenix area making the short 2 ½ hour flight from the Northwest.
Aside from chants of “Sea … Hawks!” the most popular phrase heard in downtown Phoenix late in the week was, “Anybody got extra tickets?”
Erik Olberg and his large group of friends from Seattle — numbering more than 30 — planned to follow the conventional pattern of getting tickets after arriving in Arizona. Olberg didn’t go to New York last year and heard the stories of how so many achieved success getting last-minute tickets at or below list price.
His group passed on buying tickets for $2,200 the day after the NFC championship game, convinced the prices would be lower. When they started to see the prices climbing earlier this week before leaving Seattle, checking websites became an hourly chore.
“I was checking every hour on StubHub, looking at where it’s going, trying to find an anomaly, just trying to get lucky,” Olberg said. “It’s just not happening. You hear of someone selling a ticket, but then you hear the price.”
In the case of Olberg and his friends, the concern now is trying to find somewhere to watch the game, but they’re going to explore every avenue to try and find a way in at a reasonable price.
“This is a once in a lifetime opportunity. We don’t know if the Seahawks are going to go back again,” Olberg said. “Who knows? I hope so but you don’t know that. I’m going to do everything I can until the last minute to try and go.”
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SOME ARIZONA OFFICIALS SCORE FREE SUPER BOWL TICKETS
PHOENIX (AP) Tickets for the Super Bowl are in hot demand and running for several thousand dollars, but some Arizona elected officials are getting the perk of going for free or at face value.
The NFL, Arizona Super Bowl Host Committee and businesses have provided tickets to local lawmakers at a lower price than most people can get them. Face-value seat prices run from $800 to $1,900, but tickets are going for high as $10,000 on some sales websites.
Officials ranging from city council members to the governor will be at Sunday’s game in the Phoenix suburb of Glendale. Gov. Doug Ducey paid for his own ticket, spokesman Daniel Scarpinato told The Arizona Republic (http://bit.ly/1yFI8rN ).
The state got 20 tickets as part of a contract with the Arizona Super Bowl Host Committee, and Ducey directed those tickets to a nonprofit that helps active military members and their families, Scarpinato said.
U.S. Sen. John McCain will also be in the stands for the Seattle Seahawks-New England Patriots matchup. The senator paid face value for his seat, spokesman Brian Rogers said.
Scottsdale Councilwoman Linda Milhaven will go for free and got a second ticket for face value thanks to an agreement between the suburban city and the Host Committee. The city gave more than $645,000 to the committee to help with Super Bowl festivities.
The committee offered 12 tickets that Scottsdale offered to council members so they could serve as city representatives at the event, city spokesman Kelly Corsette said.
Council members also could buy a second ticket at a face value ranging from $1,500 to $1,900. Scottsdale Mayor Jim Lane and the rest of the council decided not to take part.
In Phoenix, City Councilwoman Kate Gallego and her husband, U.S. Rep. Ruben Gallego, bought tickets at face value. Council spokesman David Urbinato said the NFL made the tickets available to the Gallegos, and no other council members planned to go, he said.
Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton said nobody offered him a ticket, but he does not feel snubbed.
”My job is not to go to a football game,” Stanton said. ”My job is to make sure my city does the very best job hosting this massively important event.”
Glendale Mayor Jerry Weiers is going to the game after receiving two free tickets Thursday from the CEO of a sporting goods company. Mitchell Modell of Modell’s Sporting Goods made the gesture after hearing Weiers had not been offered seats.
Arizona lawmakers have been criticized in the past for accepting freebies, including free tickets to sporting events. The disclosure of such perks became a bigger issue after a Fiesta Bowl scandal in 2010 exposed the lavish spending and perks that the college football bowl heaped on lawmakers and employees.
