Ticket demand for Super Bowl XLVIII at MetLife Stadium is "at a record high seven weeks before the game," according to Mason Levinson of BLOOMBERG NEWS. Ticket resellers said that although the NFL "won’t begin distributing tickets ... until next month, there already is a robust market as New York businesses try to satisfy their own customers’ requests." PrimeSport President Sam Soni, whose company has a partnership with 16 NFL teams, said that "year-over-year Super Bowl revenue is up" about 31%. Levinson notes Super Bowl prices on PrimeSport's website "range from $2,252.50 for end zone seats in the highest tier to $10,625 for the club level." Soni said, "The bottom to the high end of the range is 15 to 20 percent higher than other Super Bowls." While MetLife Stadium has a regular-season capacity of 82,500, there will be "several thousand fewer seats available to make room for media, cameras and security." The face value of tickets "will range from $500 to $2,600." The equivalent premium seats for Super Bowl XLVII in New Orleans "went for $1,250." StubHub as of yesterday "listed 1,481 tickets available" with the cheapest located in "the upper end zone in a 'to be determined' row, for $3,183.60." Meanwhile, RazorGator.com offers tickets "ranging from $2,241 to $12,351." TiqIQ VP/Data & Communication Chris Matcovich said that people buying tickets on the secondary market now "most likely aren’t getting a good deal because brokers probably can get them for less as the game draws closer" (BLOOMBERG.com, 12/17).
STAYING INDOORS: The NFL yesterday announced that Super Bowl XLVIII Media Day will be held in Prudential Center rather than MetLife Stadium. REUTERS' Larry Fine noted in a "Super Bowl first," Media Day is being "held at a site other than the championship venue due to wintry conditions expected" in New Jersey. Tickets for the event cost $28.50 (REUTERS, 12/16). ESPN.com's Jane McManus wrote there are "actually worse ways" for fans to "get close to the Super Bowl" than attending Media Day. All the players for both teams "will be present, giving interviews to the assembled media." In terms of proximity, Media Day is a "much less expensive way to get close to the athletes just four days before some of them win a Super Bowl." Ticketholders also will "get a radio tuned to NFL Radio so they can soak up the coverage." However, it is "not hard to look at this a little cynically." The NFL "has priced most regular fans out of the Super Bowl and has done so for years." Rather than make the actual game "more accessible to low-rollers, the NFL has commoditized a media availability that the league would have to host anyway" (ESPN.com, 12/16).
