Super Bowl tickets cheap
It isn't like when the Eagles went to Jacksonville.
When the Eagles made it to the Super Bowl, I needed to buy a Super Bowl ticket for someone. You know, me, long-time sportswriter in town, somebody who allegedly has a bunch of connections. Well, I was able to use those connections to get a ticket. It was being scalped by somebody within the league -- no names, please. I believe my money passed through at least three sets of hands before it got to the person who was actually selling the ticket in the first place. I don't actually know the name of the person who originally got the ticket. I'm not even sure I know the names of all of the go-betweens.
It was a huge hassle but I was grateful for the way it worked out. I had to go to the ATM in Jacksonville on three consecutive days in order to get the money and ended up carrying around this enormous roll of $20s in my pocket for all of that time, but I was still grateful.
Price of ticket: $2,200.
Yeah, connections. Some people on the street were paying even more.
Five years later, you can go online and find your choice of tickets for a lot less. You can go right now on StubHub and get a seat in the upper deck in Tampa for about $1,600. You can get a lower level seat in the end zone, where my ticket was, for $2,000. Even though the face value on the tickets is now $800 -- up from $500 back then, if memory serves -- the price is down at least 10 percent. It could be a lot lower by Sunday because there are tons of tickets available.
But here's the question: why?
Two choices:
1) It's the economy, stupid.
2) The Arizona Cardinals remain a lame excuse for a Super Bowl participant.
You decide.