Woman runs into horse, dozen arrested for counterfeit Super Bowl tickets

TAMPA - Police nabbed more than a dozen people Sunday for a variety of crimes, including selling counterfeit Super Bowl tickets and a woman who allegedly drunkenly drove into a police horse.

Man seeks Super Bowl ticket with $4,500 cash

TAMPA ---Jeff Ahringer walked across the intersection of Dale Mabry Highway and Martin Luther King Boulevard flashing 45, $100 bills.

"Got any tickets?" he asked passersby.

Ahringer, 50, drove all the way from Plantation for a chance to get inside Raymond James Stadium.

"It's hard to get tickets," he said. "If you want to go to a game so bad, you'll do anything possible."

Less than an hour and half before game time, Ahringer still hadn't found any takers.

Rodney Thrash, Times staff writer

On game day, Super Bowl tickets are few and far between

TAMPA -- Going into the weekend, ticket prices had dropped to $1,200 or $1,400 each, but a late influx of Steelers fans dramatically drove prices back up today.

Watch for fake Tampa Super Bowl tickets

Look closely at that pricey Super Bowl ticket. Authorities expect fakes to start turning up tonight or Friday.

But the NFL and law enforcement officials say real tickets -- they have a face value of $800 to $1,000 -- have myriad tell-tale features designed to thwart counterfeiters:

• The words "Super Bowl XLIII" are laser-cut into the ticket, allowing light to shine through.
• On the back, there's a hologram. Turn it one way, and you'll see the words "TAMPA BAY." Turn it the other, and there's the logo for Super Bowl XLIII. The colors should really pop in the light. If you see both images at the same time, it's probably a piece of silver foil and a fake.
• And at the bottom of the back of the ticket, look at the image of the stadium. The field and two curving stripes above it are printed in grass-green heat sensitive ink. Rub it with your thumb, and the field and stripes will disappear. Take your thumb away, and they return.

Tampa Super Bowl ticket prices hold steady

The online market for Super Bowl tickets so far has taken no big swings today in either price or supply.

The least expensive seats available through the NFL's ticket exchange are starting at $1,615 each. Generally tickets in the upper level 300 sections of Raymond James Stadium are being offered for $1,850 or less, and seats in the 100 and 200 level sections closer to the field start at $2,000 each and go up from there.

How far up? The most expensive non-suite tickets offered today are a pair of club seats in Section 237 for $7,490 each. Asking prices for suites start at $25,413 for a suite for four and top out at $132,250 for a 16-person suite.

The cheapest tickets on StubHub are $1,525 each, and the least expensive through LiveStub are $1,857. The average ticket price and number of tickets still available are not dramatically changed from Tuesday, according to these sites.

-- Richard Danielson, Times staff writer

Tampa Super Bowl tickets: Prices up, supply down

Online prices for Super Bowl tickets edged back up today as the supply fell.

The cheapest tickets on the NFL's ticket exchange were priced at $1,711 each this afternoon, more than $200 more than Monday.

Some less-expensive cheap seats were still available on the StubHub and LiveStub sites, but the inventory at each site is shrinking. StubHub, in particular, listed 309 tickets today, a little more than a third of what it had Monday.

The average ticket price is $3,512, about the same as Monday. That's according to LiveStub, which tracks price and ticket supply trends for tickets offered on its own site and through the NFL ticket exchange.

-- Richard Danielson, Times staff writer

Tampa Super Bowl tickets: prices dropping

The asking price for the cheapest Super Bowl tickets has fallen below $1,500.

For $1,498, you can buy a ticket in the upper-level 328 section of Raymond James Stadium, according to listings on the NFL ticket exchange. Similar prices are available through the StubHub and LiveStub ticket sites.

By comparison, the lowest price for a similar seat one week ago was $1,814.

Meanwhile, the supply of tickets being offered online is rising, according to LiveStub.

LiveStub, which tracks tickets offered through its own site and on the NFL's ticket exchange, said there were 1,607 tickets on those sites a week ago. But that went from 2,285 Saturday to 2,536 Sunday to 2,665 today.

StubHub does not show the same three-day trend. The supply of tickets offered through its site rose from 1,193 to 1,256 between Saturday and Sunday, then fell to 894 today.

The average price of all tickets tracked by LiveStub is $3,503 today, down from a high of $4,370 on Wednesday.

It's not just game tickets that are being discounted.

On Friday, organizers of Brian Griese and Kevin Carter's Inside the Huddle Party dropped their ticket prices from $800 to $500 each.

The party, scheduled for Friday night at Don Shula's Steakhouse in Tampa, benefits Judi's House, a nonprofit created to help grieving children and families, and the Kevin Carter Foundation, which works on behalf of children in need.

Organizers say the Huddle Party's confirmed guests include a variety of current or recent Bucs (Ronde Barber, Warrick Dunn, Joey Galloway, Shelton Quarles and Chris Simms) and legendary Miami Dolphins (Bob Griese, Larry Csonka, Larry Little, Earl Morrall, Lynn Swann and Don Shula himself). To learn more, check www.judishouse.org.

For updates on moves in the ticket market, watch Watch blogs.tampabay.com/superbowl.

-- Richard Danielson, Times staff writer

Ticket prices expected to drop heading into the Tampa Super Bowl

Watch for Super Bowl ticket prices to drop in the coming week.

That's the word from Michael Hershfield, the co-founder and CEO of LiveStub, a Web site that seeks to give fans more comprehensive information on ticket supply and trends in prices.

In early January, the average ticket price on LiveStub, which tracks tickets offered by its own users and through the NFL’s ticket exchange, was $6,000, Hershfield said. That average dipped below $4,000 before the AFC and NFC championship games, but bumped up to $4,200 on Monday. By Wednesday, it reached $4,370, then started to go down again.

"It's quite clear that the closer you get to an event, the cheaper the tickets become," he said.

And other forces could be at work, suggests Sharyn Outtrim, a vice president for the fan travel company PrimeSport.

Ticket prices probably would be higher if the Philadelphia Eagles had beaten the Cardinals, Outtrim said. That's because Philadelphia, like Pittsburgh, is a "very strong traveling team." And, she said, "it's a long trip from Arizona to Tampa."

Most Super Bowl tickets have a face value of $800. About a quarter of the seats at Raymond James Stadium have a face value of $1,000.

This year, the NFL also has made 1,000 tickets available through the Cardinals and the Steelers at a reduced rate of $500 each.

"That's in response to the economy and what our fans are facing," NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said.

Watch blogs.tampabay.com/superbowl for updates on the Super Bowl ticket market as the Feb. 1 game approaches.

-- Richard Danielson, Times staff writer

 

Online ticket prices tick downward

After making their debut near the $2,000 mark, online prices for cheap-seat tickets to Super Bowl XLIII in Tampa have dropped as much as 14 percent in recent days.

The least expensive tickets on the NFL's ticket exchange now hover around $1,552, down from $1,814 on Monday. Those are in the upper-level 300 sections of Raymond James Stadium.

But sellers have backed off early demands on other tickets, too. The ticket exchange now offers some tickets in the 100 and 200 sections closer to the field for less than $2,000. And there are fewer tickets being offered in the $5,000 to $6,000 range.

Ticket prices at the StubHub resale Web site also are starting now at about $1,500.

Watch blogs.tampabay.com/superbowl for updates on the Super Bowl ticket market as the Feb. 1 game approaches.

-- Richard Danielson, Times staff writer

Online ticket prices start at $2,000

Want tickets to the Super Bowl?

Want them right now?

Then get ready to pay at least $2,000 per seat in the online market.

The least expensive seats listed on the NFL's own ticket exchange -- www.super-bowl-tickets.ticketsnow.com -- were going for $1,814 per seat this afternoon.

And that's way up in section 329, Row CC, overlooking the south end zone at Raymond James Stadium.

For tickets in the 100 and 200 sections closer to the field, sellers on the NFL ticket exchange are asking $2,000-plus to $6,400 each. At the very top end of the range, there are five 16-person luxury suites listed on the ticket exchange. They start at $144,325 and go to $281,750 for the suite.

Asking prices are similar on eBay, Craig's List and StubHub.com. One Craig's List seller in the San Francisco area was asking nearly $8,000 for a pair of lower sideline tickets.

For those not inclined to travel to Tampa, another Craig's List seller is hawking 38 tickets to the Super Bowl party at the Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles. Asking price: $1,498 to $26,750. That top price is for a 10-person private cabana with an open bar, massages and Playmates.

Watch http://blogs.tampabay.com/superbowl/ for updates on the fluctuating market for tickets as Super Bowl XLIII approaches on Feb. 1.

-- Richard Danielson, Times staff writer

Double dose of Pennsylvania? Help!

Pennsylvania Gov. Edward G. Rendell is rooting for the Eagles and Steelers. [AP photo]

Don't look now, but the prospects of an All-Pennsylvania Super Bowl -- featuring the Philadelphia Eagles and Pittsburgh Steelers -- are growing each week. And while that might seem like a dream match-up to NFL fans, some of us in the host city might be shuddering at the idea.

As if dealing with Philadelphia Phillies fans during the 2008 World Series wasn't enough, an Eagles-Steelers finale would send a double dose of fans from the Keystone State to Tampa Bay. And that's something not lost on Pennsylvania Gov. Edward G. Rendell.

The New York Times reports that "Rendell says an Eagles-Steelers Super Bowl would send happy, rowdy Pennsylvanians rushing to Tampa, Fla., whether they had tickets or not. And he would become the de facto mayor of Tampa for two weeks."

According to Rendell, 25,000 Eagle fans -- many without game tickets -- invaded Jacksonville in 2005 when Philly made it to the title game. Now imagine at least double the fans here in Tampa Bay -- and maybe now you've stopped smiling.

"Eagles fans and Steelers fans are such enthusiastic blue-collar rock 'n' rollers, there may not be much left of Tampa when they get done with it," Rendell told the Times. "[Fla.] Gov. Crist is a friend of mine, so I will offer to send the Pennsylvania National Guard down to help."

Oh great. Even more Pennsylvanians.

Play every day, go to the Super Bowl

Three free Super Bowl tickets hinge on the willingness of a student to pledge to be active for 60 minutes every day and answer two questions about the importance of health and fitness. The winner of the NFL Super Kid Contest will also get to hand off the ball before the game's opening kick-off in Tampa on Feb. 1, 2009, and appear on boxes of Frosted Flakes. Students ages 6 to 15 can enter the contest at www.NFLrush.com.

Janet Zink, Times Staff Writer