NFL VP/Communications Brian McCarthy said that the league "will implement a plan to keep winners of a 1,000-ticket lottery for the cheapest Super Bowl tickets -- those costing $500 -- from reselling their tickets for a profit on the secondary market by having them pick up the tickets at the stadium on game day," according to Thompson & Red of the N.Y. DAILY NEWS. If the ticket holder "leaves the stadium, the ticket will become void." NFL data shows that 60% of fans who won the lottery last year "resold their $600 tickets within 24 hours for an average of $2,615 per ticket." McCarthy said, “We knocked the price from $650 to $500 and doubled the number of ticket winners. ... They will not be able to pick up the tickets and go into the parking lot" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 9/18). ESPN.com's Darren Rovell cited sources as saying that the NFL is "considering pricing the best non-premium seats at MetLife Stadium at $1,500, as opposed to the $1,250 it cost for a similar seat in the lower bowl" for Super Bowl XLVII at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. After the $1,500 price, there is a $1,200 seat and a $1,000 seat, "both of which cost $950 last season." The league is "strongly considering dropping" 30% of the upper level tickets from $950 last season to $800 this season. The "worst seats in the house, the upper corners, are also likely to see a drop of $150 per ticket" (ESPN.com, 9/17).
