One tough ticket: Super Bowl XLIX seats will cost fans plenty

PHOENIX, Ariz.– It used to be a common practice. Go to a New England Patriots Super Bowl and get a bargain on tickets later.

Take life-long Patriots fan, Brian Elliott, for example. About 10 days ago, he organized a trip to Super Bowl XLlX for two of his school buddies from Maine and his 8-year-old son.

They had been to many games together in Foxboro, growing up a few hours away. And Elliott, who now lives in California, went to the Patriots-Giants Super Bowl here in 2008.

“My buddy got a $700 ticket for $600,” recalled Elliott. “I figured, at worst, we’d pay $1,000.”

Elliott figured wrong, as in ten times wrong.

The lowest rate on Ticketmaster and StubHub was $10,200 yesterday, up about $1,000 from Thursday.

Why are the prices so high? The easy answer is demand. The complex answer is many brokers “over-booked” tickets, not realizing the demand for this game would be as high as it is, and there simply is not enough supply.

John Haymakers, 29, is from Westfield, Mass. The difference between himself and the Elliott clan is he realized it was probably going to take some waiting for affordable tickets.

He said he misinterpreted the high prices, too.

“I had a chance to buy four tickets for $20,000,” said Haymakers. “That’s too much, but looking at prices now, it really wasn’t that bad.”

Haymakers made the trip without tickets, too, and not they have come to realize they may have to wait until the second quarter of the Super Bowl to get anything near his $2,000 max.

“My life’s mission is to get into this game,” said Haymakers. “I posted on Facebook a picture of my little daughter (asking for a ticket). Hey, I’ll do anything. I’ve never been to a Patriots Super Bowl and I want to go to this game.”

The story gets a little better. Haymaker’s wife, Karen, celebrated her 29th birthday…yesterday.

“I know it doesn’t look good, but I bought her a ring and put it in a drawer, which she found this morning,” he said. “She called to thank me, so I think she’s OK with me being here.”

He did have one request.

“Could you write this story after the Super Bowl? I don’t want her to know I spent $2,000,” he said. “I think I told her my max was $1,500.”

The request was denied.

Ticket prices over the last decade usually have stabilized the last day or so, usually dropping hours before game time. In 2002, in New Orleans, Patriots-Rams seats reportedly dropped to $100 on game day.

That is not expected to happen to that extent Sunday.

Elliott said while they realize it’s going to be tough getting four tickets to the game, he has heard a story on the plane from a guy that bought tickets for $3,000 apiece, only to have the broker make an excuse that the tickets were counterfeit.

“The broker returned the money, but he probably just sold those tickets someone else at a higher price,” said Elliott. “It’s a tough business…I just want to go to the game with my friends and son. Right now, it doesn’t look good.”