NFL: Wanna Go To The Super Bowl? It’s Gonna Cost You!

Posted by Sabrina B. @gametimegirl

Damn…Guess I won’t be going! Lol. Giants fans will need big bucks if they want to watch the Big Blue take on the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLVI in Indianapolis on Feb. 5.

The rematch of the 2008 thriller between the Giants and the Patriots is attracting huge interest on ticket resale websites, where thousands of seats originally priced at $900 and $1,200 are selling for $2,500 to $15,000. StubHub even listed a street level suite for $882,375 today, hours after the Giants defeated the San Francisco 49ers for a berth in the big game.

“It’s a hot ticket,” said StubHub spokeswoman Joellen Ferrer, who said the Super Bowl attracted 1.5 million visitors to the site on Sunday, or 40 percent of the day’s total.

There are several reasons for the crazy prices. For one, Boston and New York are big markets with large, wealthy fan bases. And the game will be played in Indianapolis, which is relatively close to both home teams and thus attractive for a weekend trip.

But the biggest force driving prices might be the rematch. The Giants were underdogs in 2008, when they surged to victory in the final minutes of Super Bowl XLII, ruining the Patriot’s perfect season in dramatic fashion.

Earlier this season, Big Blue again beat the Pats in a close game in Foxborough. Even so, they are the early underdogs for the championship.

“New York-Boston is always a rivalry, and the way the game ended four years ago? The rivalry is there,” said Tom Patania, owner of Select-A-Ticket in Riverdale. The average ticket today was selling online for $2,800, less than the $3,134 average from 2008 but on par with the average price for last year’s Steelers-Packers showdown at Cowboy Stadium in Arlington Texas, according to TicketNetwork.com, a secondary marketplace.

The Giants’ victory over the 49ers and the Patriots’ win over the Baltimore Ravens left many brokers smiling.

“I don’t know if I can think of two better markets for any game,” TicketNetwork.com’s Tim Fraser said. “The Giants and Patriots have fans that span the country. Of the four teams, there’s no doubt that this is the match-up that would have the highest demand for tickets.”

Patania won’t predict where prices will end up, but he said the number of available tickets is smaller than last year and that could drive them up. Lucas Oil Stadium, which opened in 2008, will hold 70,000 for the big game, a couple thousand more than a normal Colts home game. But that total is significantly smaller than last year, when Cowboys Stadium announced a total crowd of more than 100,000.

“The teams are going to get less tickets and there will be less tickets overall, and that means a tighter market,” Patania said. “But you don’t know what the market is going to do. We’ve seen situations where its dipped and then rallied.”

While millions are trolling the internet marketplaces, others have an easier route. Nazo Haroutunian of Hilllsdale is one of thousands of lucky Giants season ticket holders whose names were drawn in a lottery for the opportunity to buy two tickets through the team.

Haroutunian, 38, bought a pair of $900 tickets and plans to enjoy his first Super Bowl with Michael Gostanian of Queens, his friend who is half-owner of his season tickets.

“I love it, the rematch,” Haroutunian said, adding that watching Sunday’s game “probably shaved 10 years off my life.”

As soon as he saw the e-mail from the team Sunday night, Haroutunian started surfing the web for hotels and flights. He was shocked by the costs.

“Everything’s through the roof,” he said. He found rooms going for as much as $800 a night, but managed to book one for $400.

The NFL divides the ticket inventory the same way every year, said Giants spokesman Pat Hanlon. The Giants and Patriots each get about 12,250 tickets, or 17.5 percent of the total, Hanlon said, and the Indianapolis Colts as the hosting team get 3,500. Each NFL club gets 1.2 percent of total tickets, and the league gets the final 25 percent.

Hanlon said the team notified the season ticket holders who were selected by random (but weighted for seniority) drawing to purchase tickets. The winners must bring a certified check to the Giants offices this week to get their tickets.

“I’m almost looking at it like I got a little lucky,” Haroutunian said. “I’m looking forward to it all, to getting caught up in the craziness.”

WRITTEN BY Peggy McGlone/The Star-Ledger  & Star-Ledger staff writer Amy Kuperinsky contributed to this report & FULL STORY HERE

Peggy McGlone: (973) 392-5982, pmcglone@starledger.com or follow ontwitter.com/PeggyMcGlone.