Buying Super Bowl tickets

[Umbrella]

I just got a call from my daughter in Phoenix. She just got an offer from a friend of a friend to buy tickets to the Super Bowl. She's a huge Seahawks fan, so she really wants to go.

The price is pretty good, 2 tickets for $2500. Those tickets are going for a little under $4000 each on the official NFL site. I'm worried about her getting scammed, as this is a ton of money for someone in their early 20's.

Have any of you bought tickets for the Super Bowl before, and do you have any advice on how to verify if this is on the up-and-up? There are so many counterfeit ticket scammers out there, and I don't want her to lose what is a good chunk of her life savings up to this point.

[Chief Rum]

I have never even looked into buying Super Bowl tickets. But I would be concerned that the price quoted is so much less than even the NFL is charging for it.

[molson]

It sounds like the tickets are a whole production, she can make a checklist from this to try to assure legitimacy.

Modern Anti-Counterfeit Technology Makes Super Bowl XLIX Tickets Harder Than Ever to Scam*|*Jesse Lawrence (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jesse-lawrence/modern-anticounterfeit-te_b_6511374.html)

Buying from a "friend of a friend" is probably the worst scenario - if you buy from a stranger you can set up a contract, review the ticket closely, pay with a credit card, go through ebay or stubhub. With a "friend of a friend" I bet she'll be more reluctant to really scrutinize this.

[Logan]

When you say they're going for $4000 on the "official NFL site", does that mean a Stubhub/Ticketmaster Exchange type that is backed by the league...a typical secondary market where people are posting their tickets at a sought-after price?

Or is that the actual face value of the tickets, which the NFL is currently selling (I doubt this part)?

If that's just what a broker is quoting, I wouldn't necessarily think it's a major red flag. Those prices tend to start high and drop as the game gets closer. And getting into the SB at $1250/ticket (assuming upper deck, maybe end zone) isn't that unreasonable a week from today.

Either way, unless the friend of a friend is really trying to help out your daughter (sounds fishy), you'd think they would try to wait a few more days at least before pawning them off at that rate.

[Umbrella]

Great link. I'll send that to her.

[Umbrella]

When you say they're going for $4000 on the "official NFL site", does that mean a Stubhub/Ticketmaster Exchange type that is backed by the league...a typical secondary market where people are posting their tickets at a sought-after price?

Or is that the actual face value of the tickets, which the NFL is currently selling (I doubt this part)?

If that's just what a broker is quoting, I wouldn't necessarily think it's a major red flag. Those prices tend to start high and drop as the game gets closer. And getting into the SB at $1250/ticket (assuming upper deck, maybe end zone) isn't that unreasonable a week from today.

Either way, unless the friend of a friend is really trying to help out your daughter (sounds fishy), you'd think they would try to wait a few more days at least before pawning them off at that rate.

I looked at the NFL resale site and stubhub, and the prices were comparable at around $3900. I don't know what face value is.

A lot of it does sound fishy to me, but she works at a high end hotel in the area, so she has a lot of connections with well off people. I'm wondering (hoping) that maybe some corporate sponsor got the tickets, and has no interest in going to the game, and doesn't realize what the market bears.

[Umbrella]

Triple Dola: She just called and said she wasn't going to do it. She said she asked if he would be willing to set up a contract for the sale (with ID information, etc), and he wasn't, so she backed out. I'm glad she decided to be smart about it, instead of just getting excited about going to the game.

[Lathum]

Its amazing that I read that and think "don't spend a good chunk of your life savings on tickets to a football game" full well knowing 20 something year old me would do exactly that.

I see she backed out, which is good. If something sounds too good to be true it usually is.

[Desnudo]

I always assumed the majority of Super Bowl attendees were there on some one else's dime.

[Easy Mac]

Costco had some online starting at 8k for 2, but they're sold out.