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The Black Swan Of Super Bowls: "Ticket Prices Are Being Manipulated To The Extreme"

Tyler Durden's picture




 

Super Bowl ticket prices continue to soar. With the game now just a day away, prices have exceeded the $10,500 average and get-in price is just over $9,000 but, as TiqIQ's CEO reports, the ticket market’s "Black Swan" moment will leave some fans showing up to Arizona having paid for tickets they’ll never receive... as derivative-based speculators were selling tickets they never had to begin with, and the short squeeze is unprecedented. "The market is being manipulated to the extreme by those who have paid teams and the league for access." When this happened in the 2011 BCS National Championship game, many brokers went out of business filling their short orders, and some others even walked away from their orders, leaving fans to fend for themselves and it appears tomorrow will be the same for Super Bowl attendees (and speculators).

As the CEO of online ticket site TiqIQ notes (via The Daily Beast),

Two days after the conference championship game, the cheapest ticket for Super Bowl XLIX was going for under $2,000. That same cheapest ticket—also known as the “get-in price”—is now going $9,600. While good old-fashioned demand played a role in this year’s run-up, like 2008's market-based Black Swan euphoria and subsequent crash, the 2015 Super Bowl dynamic was driven principally by derivative-based speculators looking to make a quick buck.

 

 

 

In the 2015 Super Bowl ticket market, short selling has again played a major role, but this time around, anyone that shorted the market is now looking at losses of as much as $8,000 for each ticket.

 

In ticketing, short selling works like this: A speculator offers to sell a ticket they do not own, for a price above where he thinks the market will ultimately end up. At the time of the sale, this may seem like a good deal. Following the normal ticket market demand curve, as the event gets closer, prices drop.

 

When that happens, the “spec” buys a ticket, ideally below the price at which they originally sold it. For last year’s Super Bowl in New York, the cheapest ticket on game-day was going for around $1,500. If the same pattern held this year, a spec seller who sold their ticket for $2,000 after the conference championship would pocket $500 and a 33% return for their week’s worth of work.

 

With the cheapest pair to the 2015 game now going for $10,000, those same sellers are now looking at losses of up to $8,000—for each ticket. The result of this short-selling has been a week-long scramble by underwater brokers looking to fill orders at the best price available.

Simply put - the average fan never sees a fair price as the "short squeeze" demand prices all reasonable buyers out of the market. This is not the first time - but it is the most significant yet...

The first time the U.S. ticket market crossed the $5,000 average mark was in 2011 for the BCS National Championship between Auburn and Oregon. That game also took place at University of Phoenix Stadium, and like this year, short selling played a big part in the elevated price levels. That year, however, tickets dropped as low as $3,000 on game-day.

 

Despite that drop, many brokers went out of business filling their short orders, and some others even walked away from their orders, leaving fans to fend for themselves in Arizona without the ticket they thought they had.

Yet again a market is being manipulated by those with financial might or elite positioning to the detriment of the general public...

With the arrival of $10,000 tickets, now something has to be done to protect consumers in situations like this. As a lawsuit filed last year makes clear, less than 2 percent of Super Bowl tickets actually become available to the general public. The NFL controls who gets the rest, with the two participating teams getting 17.5 percent, the host team getting 5 percent and each NFL team getting 1.2 percent each.

 

That way, the NFL dictates when and to whom tickets are made available. Unlike most events, the Super Bowl does not allow for e-tickets, so tracking and accountability is entirely within control of the NFL.

 

...

 

The cheapest face value ticket for this year’s Super Bowl was $1,200, which is $8,000 less than what you can get now on the secondary market. With nothing particularly different about the match-up, the participants or the location, those kinds of numbers suggest that the market is rigged.

 

The market is being manipulated to the extreme by those who have paid teams and the league for access.

 

While those with access won financially this year, they’ve done so at the expense of the fan, their own integrity, and the consumer’s trust in the ticket market. For Super Bowl 50 in San Francisco, the NFL needs to have a fix in place to ensure 2015 never happens again.

*  *  *

 

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Sat, 01/31/2015 - 19:07 | 5729960 xavi1951
xavi1951's picture

Since when is SCALPING manipulating?        Absolutly rediculous!gw is that you?

Sat, 01/31/2015 - 19:09 | 5729969 Cognitive Dissonance
Cognitive Dissonance's picture

If you don't have the PM ticket in hand you don't have PM's tickets. You have a promise. Good luck collecting on that promise.

Sat, 01/31/2015 - 19:17 | 5729993 WayBehind
WayBehind's picture

Only morons and sheeple buy tickets to these events ...

Sat, 01/31/2015 - 19:26 | 5730011 JungleCat
JungleCat's picture

It's fun being at the event location (SuperBowl, Olympics, Stanley Cup, etc.) because of the atmosphere and just talking to people. But to actually pay all that money to attend the event? Meh. I no longer feel the need. Better to watch it on TV.

Sat, 01/31/2015 - 19:40 | 5730051 Gaius Frakkin' ...
Gaius Frakkin' Baltar's picture

I like the Superball, because I can do things in town without being run over by idiots.

Sat, 01/31/2015 - 19:41 | 5730060 chunga
chunga's picture

I'm just here so I don't get fined.

Sat, 01/31/2015 - 19:47 | 5730066 knukles
knukles's picture

Well, this is certainly cause for a DoJ investigation.
Think I'm kidding, huh?  Just wait.  And it'll be the ball boy's fault

Sat, 01/31/2015 - 19:57 | 5730087 0b1knob
0b1knob's picture

Scalpers getting scalped.  Breaks my fvckin' heart.

Now if only the Seahawks beat the Patriots and spike the (FULLY INFLATED) football in the endzone repeatedly I will be happy.

 

Cheaters don't always lose.   But I can hope.

Sat, 01/31/2015 - 20:48 | 5730220 mickeyman
mickeyman's picture

This looks a bit like on of my charts.

Sat, 01/31/2015 - 21:11 | 5730270 cnmcdee
cnmcdee's picture

Why do I get the impression this will be the last superbowl ever... Maybe that is why the price is up so high. The elite are getting in one more party coke laced binge crack and hooker anal sex wolf of wallstreet midget tossing festivity before they head to their underground bunkers all hung over..

Sat, 01/31/2015 - 22:43 | 5730516 Never One Roach
Never One Roach's picture

I read on one of those health sites they were checking up on people for measles ... those who might be attending the game and were near Disneyland when the measles lifted off.

 

Scary.

Sat, 01/31/2015 - 20:00 | 5730104 chunga
chunga's picture

Special Prosecutor John Harbaugh!

 

Sat, 01/31/2015 - 21:43 | 5730366 CultiVader
CultiVader's picture

"so you don't get fined"

-- Deion's line

Sat, 01/31/2015 - 20:25 | 5730174 Who was that ma...
Who was that masked man's picture

 


Vote down!


"I like the Superball, because I can do things in town without being run over by idiots."

...................................... Insecure about their manhood and driving enormous pickup trucks as compensation.

Sat, 01/31/2015 - 20:50 | 5730225 mickeyman
mickeyman's picture

Who's playing? I'm too lazy to look it up on the interpipes.

Sun, 02/01/2015 - 10:41 | 5731335 Semi-employed W...
Semi-employed White Guy's picture

Boston Cheaters vs. Seattle SWPL

Sun, 02/01/2015 - 01:07 | 5730824 Nobody For President
Nobody For President's picture

It is the best day of the year to go to the dump in my rural area, because nobody is there, just breeze in and breeze out. And the weather looks good to fly...

Sat, 01/31/2015 - 19:32 | 5730036 The9thDoctor
The9thDoctor's picture

Last year a 9/11 truther got into the Super Bowl for free by sneaking in pretending to be a journalist and he went right for the press box.

http://www.nj.com/super-bowl/index.ssf/2014/02/super_bowl_2014_911_truth...

On the Alex Jones Show he claimed he got fined $250 for trespassing which is much cheaper than a ticket to get in!

Sat, 01/31/2015 - 19:32 | 5730039 TheRideNeverEnds
TheRideNeverEnds's picture

Why wouldn't you want to pay a mere 10,000$ for the opportunity to wait in line and be patted down, have all your belongings searched and be screened for whooping cough / measles before watching an event that would be better seen on TV?  

 

If you just stay home how can you be sure there isn't a terrorist hiding under your couch or in your friends pocket!?

Sat, 01/31/2015 - 19:47 | 5730070 BurningFuld
BurningFuld's picture

And miss Katy Perry live????

Sat, 01/31/2015 - 21:36 | 5730342 Romney Wordsworth
Romney Wordsworth's picture

Plus ~ if your home city team wins you can go out and torch the town to celebrate! Don't miss the fun!

Sun, 02/01/2015 - 14:25 | 5731840 Sokhmate
Sokhmate's picture

Quote Only morons and sheeple buy tickets to these events ...

Those morons spell moron moran

 

Sat, 01/31/2015 - 19:23 | 5730008 NOTW777
NOTW777's picture

forget superbowl tickets - someone explain that bizarre move in crude on friday; no news? no explanation?  is this just a bounce?  look at the charts $WTIC, $USO - futs closed near the high - 43.50ish to almost $48 in a day?

Sat, 01/31/2015 - 20:26 | 5730175 mt paul
mt paul's picture

oil tankers

in the streets

Sat, 01/31/2015 - 20:47 | 5730222 mickeyman
mickeyman's picture

Maybe they wanted to paint a nice number for the end of the month.

Sat, 01/31/2015 - 20:44 | 5730212 SpanishInquisition
SpanishInquisition's picture

I don't see what the problem is. It looks like a large group of speculators became greedy, so they sold something they didn't own in order to try and make an annualized profit of around 1700%. Instead they got SNBed and are suffering even larger losses than the profits they would have made on what they wrongly assumed was a safe bet.

Sat, 01/31/2015 - 23:01 | 5730555 cornflakesdisease
cornflakesdisease's picture

My sister was attacked by an ostrich.

Sat, 01/31/2015 - 19:08 | 5729964 toady
toady's picture

Tanks in the streets?

Sat, 01/31/2015 - 19:08 | 5729965 toady
toady's picture

Tanks in the streets!

Sat, 01/31/2015 - 19:08 | 5729972 buzzsaw99
buzzsaw99's picture

thanks bernanke

Sat, 01/31/2015 - 19:12 | 5729974 Yen Cross
Yen Cross's picture

 I attended 2 Superbowls and 1 Worldseries in the 90's.  If we had released the Roswell N.M. "Flatscreen Tv " tech back then, I'd never have gone.

 Our normal(surrounding) season ticket holders sold their ticket rights to a bunch of pompous entitled thugs. It was really sad.

 We spent more time being worried about being ripped off.

Sat, 01/31/2015 - 19:16 | 5729995 Redneck Hippy
Redneck Hippy's picture

The cheapest ticket for the first SuperBowl was $6.00.   Since deflation is now rearing its ugly head, I'm guessing we get back there in about 1000 years.

Sat, 01/31/2015 - 19:24 | 5730014 Yen Cross
Yen Cross's picture

 Look no further than the Roman Colosseum for historical narrative.

Sat, 01/31/2015 - 19:10 | 5729975 Smegley Wanxalot
Smegley Wanxalot's picture

Last time I checked, no one is being forced to pay out the ass for this bullshit and participate ... or is there an obamaticket mandate now?

Sat, 01/31/2015 - 19:09 | 5729978 FallenOne
FallenOne's picture

shove it up your ass dickweed this aint important talk about the russian bombers being over the english channel! NUCLEAR WAR IS THE ULTIMATE SUPER BOWL!

Sat, 01/31/2015 - 19:14 | 5729982 Chuck Knoblauch
Chuck Knoblauch's picture

Sounds like the paper gold market.

No gold for you!

Sat, 01/31/2015 - 19:36 | 5730045 Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill's picture

MERS bought out Ticketmaster.

Sat, 01/31/2015 - 19:53 | 5730079 Pool Shark
Pool Shark's picture

 

 

And, if you didn't receive your ticket, you can lodge a complaint with Linda Green...

 

Sat, 01/31/2015 - 19:56 | 5730085 El Vaquero
El Vaquero's picture

LOLOL

Sat, 01/31/2015 - 19:54 | 5730084 El Vaquero
El Vaquero's picture

I can imagine what that phone conversation would be like. 

 

"Yes sir, the price is $10,000.  You'll take them?  I'll have Linda Green mail your tickets to you right away sir."

Sat, 01/31/2015 - 20:12 | 5730136 Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill's picture

Her Chinese cousin works in port warehousing: Rinda Gleen.

Sat, 01/31/2015 - 19:13 | 5729983 Element
Element's picture

Is the ticket for a paper game, or phys?

Sat, 01/31/2015 - 19:14 | 5729984 nodhannum
nodhannum's picture

Good L__rd!  Who cares?  Paying to see a bunch of folks with a glandular problem and who came out of the Neander Valley in Deutchland run up and down a grass field.  As Juvenal put it...Panis et circenses.  I guess I'll take the philosophical view of things...if my team wins...I'll be happy and have some beer...if they should lose....I will have even more beer to asuage my sadness...I win either way!

Sun, 02/01/2015 - 14:32 | 5731858 Sokhmate
Sokhmate's picture

Your team? You must be rich.  I can't afford to own the rascals team across the street. 

Sat, 01/31/2015 - 19:15 | 5729994 mvsjcl
mvsjcl's picture

Went to two Superbowls, XIX and XXI. Got in free both times. Flag detail for the opening ceremonies, back when I was pulling I & I duty on the West Coast. Man, those were the days. I'm sure tickets were going for a couple of hundred bucks back then. But that's when they still had marching bands at halftime.

Sat, 01/31/2015 - 19:17 | 5729996 quasimodo
quasimodo's picture

Fuck the superbowl and the NFL. If folks want to get fleeced that bad then let them. Go ahead with your hero worship assholes.

Baaa! Baaa!

Sat, 01/31/2015 - 19:20 | 5730005 buzzsaw99
buzzsaw99's picture

+1 i wouldn't go even if i could sit at the fifty yard line and get paid for it

Sat, 01/31/2015 - 19:25 | 5730017 mvsjcl
mvsjcl's picture

I kinda agree with you, Buzz. Most of the folk who went when I was there didn't even care about the game. Just kinda wanted to be there, that's all. I'm thinking most of the real fans were at the local Buffalo Wings dispensary watching on the wall-to-wall tv's.

Sat, 01/31/2015 - 19:27 | 5730023 buzzsaw99
buzzsaw99's picture

the game has changed like everything else and not for the better.

Sat, 01/31/2015 - 19:27 | 5730026 mvsjcl
mvsjcl's picture

Agreed.

Sat, 01/31/2015 - 20:00 | 5730093 Pool Shark
Pool Shark's picture

 

 

It seems like the only reason people go to these things (sporting events and concerts) anymore, is so they can send selfies/tweets/texts to all their friends directly from the event just to make them jealous.

What's the point in spending $10k to see a game, when you're not going to watch it anyway?...

 

Sat, 01/31/2015 - 20:47 | 5730207 RichardP
RichardP's picture

You are spending $10,000 because you can and because you want to be at an event.  And to be down-wind from the largest Nuclear Power Plant in the U.S.

http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/valleyfever/2013/10/palo_verde_nuclear_...

If you wanted to watch football you'd watch in on television.

Sat, 01/31/2015 - 19:33 | 5730033 Yen Cross
Yen Cross's picture

 Buzz, a couple of years ago, my buddy had someone bail on the combined Season Ticket package they had.(Playoffs)

 The seats were interesting. Endzone up high, and really decent based on the stadium layout.

 We spent more money just getting to the event than it cost for the tickets. Taxies, parabolic! We paid the guy off, figuring it would be cheaper that hotel room.

 Wrong! The place turned into a "black hole" after the event. Sporting events aren't what they used to be.

Sat, 01/31/2015 - 19:17 | 5729997 B2u
B2u's picture

Currently the lowest price on Stubhub is $8,000 for a ticket.  The highest price is $49,999.99.  I am going to Hooters and spend less than $100 and enjoy an excellent view.

Sat, 01/31/2015 - 20:03 | 5730106 Pool Shark
Pool Shark's picture

 

 

So, exactly what will you being viewing at Hooters?

 

Sat, 01/31/2015 - 20:19 | 5730154 Yen Cross
Yen Cross's picture

 My guess is    Garment Malfunctions.  Pool Shark.

 BTW I love your posts!

Sat, 01/31/2015 - 22:59 | 5730553 noben
noben's picture

For $8,000 you can rent your hotel suite, giant 4k LCD TV, Hookers and Blo.

That way, you can make good use of it for 90% of the time when the game will be a Super Bore.

We will be recording it, and speed-watching the entire thing in 1 hr (FF between plays, commercials* and 1/2-time crap).

* We'll get the Best SB Commercials on YT anyway.

Sat, 01/31/2015 - 19:18 | 5730001 HowdyDoody
HowdyDoody's picture

If you like your superbowels, you can keep your superbowels.

Sat, 01/31/2015 - 19:34 | 5730040 mvsjcl
mvsjcl's picture

I'm a great champion of 9/11 truth, WTFRLY, but this is a Super Bowl article.

Sat, 01/31/2015 - 19:36 | 5730046 Agstacker
Agstacker's picture

Should have linked a deflategate blog instead.  

Sat, 01/31/2015 - 20:07 | 5730129 knukles
knukles's picture

Flash
AP New York, Jan 31 2015
Early Saturday morning it was announced by the Joint System Wide Anti-terrorist Task force and Federal Clusterfuck investigations Committee that 3 fully intact North Korean passports without entry visas to the United States had been found next to the ball bag on the New England Patriots' sidelines during the last playoff game.  NFL commissioner Erstwhile Fudgepack was see giddily waving his arms like a small Somali child being presented with his first solid nourishment in over a week when the findings were announced by White House spokesperson Josh Earnestly from the executive washroom aboard Air Force One while in transit form Baltimore International Airport to Regan National transporting the President and his staff from a fact finding mission on racial inequality at the White Castle in the North Avenue/Belair Road district of Baltimore.  Earnestly released a statement by the president his Wookie and somebody else who he couldn't remember stating: "The burgers were dry and tasteless like they'd sat out under the heat lamps for days and the service was terrible.  I hate being told "nopobem" instead of Thank you, Mr President.  The fucking kid didn't even recognize me."  It was decided that the president and select close friends for the Chumb Ganja Gang days would attend the Next Patriots game, coincidentally to be held at tomorrow at some supposedly important game and personally supervise the ball boys on the sidelines.  When asked another question about the status of the EU, Greece, natural gas pipelines running from the Gulf through Greece to the EU and Russia's involvement he only answered; "Fuck Hillary Clinton"

Sun, 02/01/2015 - 05:15 | 5731059 dreadnaught
dreadnaught's picture

isnt Katy Perry sposed to strip naked and fuck a donkey during halftime?

Sun, 02/01/2015 - 12:53 | 5731599 Buckaroo Banzai
Buckaroo Banzai's picture

Technically, she will be blowing the donkey.

Sat, 01/31/2015 - 19:25 | 5730013 e_goldstein
e_goldstein's picture

 He who sells what isn't hisin', finds himself going to prison.

(Except of course for the fuckers at JPM, Goldman, et al.)

Sat, 01/31/2015 - 19:25 | 5730021 SickDollar
SickDollar's picture

10k for a game  played by monkeys WTF lol

 

Sat, 01/31/2015 - 19:29 | 5730030 mvsjcl
mvsjcl's picture

The price is ludicrous. So is your comment.

Sat, 01/31/2015 - 20:17 | 5730151 Who was that ma...
Who was that masked man's picture

So is the "superbowl".

Sat, 01/31/2015 - 19:38 | 5730050 mvsjcl
mvsjcl's picture

Monkeys? Really? Alex Karras might disagree with you. Or Jim Otto. Y. A. Tittle anyone? I don't think you've ever played the game. But, hey, comments don't respect reality until they meet a wall of experience.

Sat, 01/31/2015 - 20:06 | 5730127 Monty Burns
Monty Burns's picture

The players you mention are gone from the game for nearly half a century. A different species plays today. 

 

Sat, 01/31/2015 - 20:17 | 5730149 Who was that ma...
Who was that masked man's picture

Monkeys?  More like retarded gorillas.

Sat, 01/31/2015 - 19:30 | 5730034 mrdenis
mrdenis's picture

 

Corzine in Arizona ?

 

 

 

 

 

Sat, 01/31/2015 - 19:38 | 5730048 Secret Weapon
Secret Weapon's picture

Remove the entertainment expense tax deduction for these tickets and then you will see what their true markiet value is. 

Sun, 02/01/2015 - 09:47 | 5731265 Took Red Pill
Took Red Pill's picture

Yes, it's mostly big businesses who buy blocks of tickets to woo thier clients and then write it off.

Sat, 01/31/2015 - 19:46 | 5730064 pine_marten
pine_marten's picture

Whats left of the Grateful Dead is slated to play 3 final shows at Soldiers Field in Chicago this coming 4th of July weekend.  I imagine tickets will be a couple hundred bucks.  Thats far more than I'd pay.  But I wouldn't mind taking in the parking lot scene where word has it the fans have petitioned the city to allow camping.

The superbowl will be attended by large numbers of pretentious pricks.

 

 

Sat, 01/31/2015 - 21:51 | 5730384 CultiVader
CultiVader's picture

So will those further shows

Sat, 01/31/2015 - 23:36 | 5730658 The Darwin Mode
The Darwin Mode's picture

"The superbowl will be attended by large numbers of pretentious pricks." --pine_marten

I know, the 12th Man is so effing annoying.

Sat, 01/31/2015 - 19:50 | 5730073 El Vaquero
El Vaquero's picture

Fuck me this is retarded!  Dumb motherfuckers taking their cues from Wall Street for tickets where you know that the person on the other end is going to want to take delivery.  Fuck those motherfuckers!  Can we start sliting some throats now?  I think it's time...

Sat, 01/31/2015 - 19:55 | 5730086 Eyeroller
Eyeroller's picture

We scalped some folks...

Sat, 01/31/2015 - 20:09 | 5730133 trader1
Sat, 01/31/2015 - 23:33 | 5730653 The Darwin Mode
The Darwin Mode's picture

Why is Rapid City playing Gotham in the Pittsburgh Steelers' stadium? And why are "terrorists" attacking a football game with 40,000 empty seats? And why are they singing the warmongering Star Spangled Banner in a fantasy universe?

...oh i forgot: just STFU and be afraid.

Sun, 02/01/2015 - 03:58 | 5731001 trader1
trader1's picture

people don't understand that we're living in one big reality tv/movie/internet show....right?1

;-)

 

 

 

 

 

______________

1any guesses on the who's watching and from where?

Sat, 01/31/2015 - 20:13 | 5730139 Who was that ma...
Who was that masked man's picture

Can't think of anything more boring.  I wouldn't go to the superbowl if someone paid ME $10,500.

Sat, 01/31/2015 - 20:22 | 5730165 No.Fifth.Turning
No.Fifth.Turning's picture

The only live event I would have loved to been at was when Tiger Woods' ex was on him like Flint with a nine-iron.  Damn that lucky neighbor.

Sat, 01/31/2015 - 20:24 | 5730166 geekz_rule
geekz_rule's picture

ROFL

NAKED Selling tickets. fucking Financialize everything, bitchez! 

you want air to breathe? ya.. its gonna cost you...

wtf!! LMAO

P < P + I

Sat, 01/31/2015 - 20:24 | 5730169 Barnaby
Barnaby's picture

Oh lord, I got seven sets of tickets each, in little clamshell cases, including tickets for kids I don't have. I don't have the dignity to resell them.

Sat, 01/31/2015 - 20:23 | 5730170 g speed
g speed's picture

this is so completely unimportant and irrelavant to anything. This is all media--and yes, "the media is the message".

Sat, 01/31/2015 - 20:31 | 5730182 loregnum
loregnum's picture

These short sellers deserve to get screwed over.

Anyone who is actually willing to drop thousands to see a football game also deserves to get screwed over.

I'll enjoy the game in my house, sitting in a comfortable recliner with my personal restroom, a huge stock of snacks and beverages, watching it in hd with my expense being that of whatever my delivered pizza is going to cost. 

 

Sat, 01/31/2015 - 20:32 | 5730187 teslaberry
teslaberry's picture

FUCK THE SUPERBOWL AND ANY MORONS THAT PUT ANY SIGNIFICANT EMOTIONAL ENERGY INTO IT. 

 

it's ok to be amused at sports, but you have no sympathy from me for caring about sports. 

Sat, 01/31/2015 - 22:17 | 5730452 cigarEngineer
cigarEngineer's picture

Marx was wrong.

The true opiate of the masses is professional sports.

Sat, 01/31/2015 - 23:27 | 5730634 The Darwin Mode
The Darwin Mode's picture

Religious subordination/indoctrination is the ultimate prepping mechanism for subsequent behavioral compliance. Professional sports -- and the broader infotainment sector brought to you by the corporatocratic mainstream media -- do indeed function as an opiate, particularly through screentime hypnosis, but do you really think the average American citizen's mental independence would be so easily relinquished to the masters of propaganda if his or her mind weren't already coopted by religion?

Sat, 01/31/2015 - 23:20 | 5730618 The Darwin Mode
The Darwin Mode's picture

Arrow up on that one, teslaberry. I'm with you all the way.

...And GO SEAHAWKS!

Sat, 01/31/2015 - 20:36 | 5730192 yogibear
yogibear's picture

Why not? If they can get it more power to them.

People willing pay over $10,000/ticket aren't your average Joe.

Scalpers could have doubled each ticket to $20,000/ticket and these same people would have paid.

Price is no object for these buyers. At $50,000/ticket they would still purchased them.

 

Sat, 01/31/2015 - 20:54 | 5730243 czarangelus
czarangelus's picture

Is this real or is this some kind of satire I'm too stupid to catch the punchline for?

Sat, 01/31/2015 - 21:02 | 5730253 European American
European American's picture

$10,500...that's a nice rifle, shotgun, hand gun, some ammo and a year of storable food. 

Sun, 02/01/2015 - 09:01 | 5731215 ThisIsBob
ThisIsBob's picture

Or, at current Rocky Mountain prices, about a 5 year's supply of primo weed.

Sat, 01/31/2015 - 21:06 | 5730260 cigarEngineer
cigarEngineer's picture

squeeze the fvckers

Sat, 01/31/2015 - 21:44 | 5730369 Who was that ma...
Who was that masked man's picture

Will somebody please flush the superbowl right in the middle of halftime?

Sat, 01/31/2015 - 21:54 | 5730393 CultiVader
CultiVader's picture

Mom died on Wednesday, my second child born on Thursday. What's a Super Bowl?

Sat, 01/31/2015 - 23:05 | 5730569 Joebloinvestor
Joebloinvestor's picture

I hope it is a blow out.

Sun, 02/01/2015 - 00:45 | 5730795 bitterwolf
bitterwolf's picture

imagine the elite of ancient Rome...scheming and bidding for box seats next to the Ceasar's.....give them games....watch them howl and forget their place in life....lol...nothing new under the sun....as the semites would say...lol

Sun, 02/01/2015 - 00:57 | 5730812 Bangback
Bangback's picture

Nothing different about the location or teams???  Are you kidding me?

The Patriots have a much broader fanbase than the Broncos.  While Pats sell out every game, the demand is actually much higher.  Plenty of fans are either pretty far away or don't feel a need to freeze their asses off every game of the season when they can watch at home. From hedgies in CT to VT, NH, ME, the Pats have a big base. As well, they have lots of air capacity -- there's a pretty static number of flights from Denver to NYC.  New England to AZ you have Boston, NYC, Manchester, Hartford, etc.

New Jersey was a terrible location for the Super Bowl. Almost everyone rich enough to go to the Super Bowl has been to NYC plenty and really doesn't need a late January trip there.  And remember the weather worries? Now a trip to Arizona, Miami -- great golf, ladies, etc.  Perfect guys trip. A rich fellow I knew used to go every year with his buds to the Super Bowl location to play golf and party. No tickets in hand -- if they found a few gameday for $1K they'd buy them, otherwise party in their rental house.  So here's the thing -- there are plenty of vendors/service providers out there that would be happy to spend $5K to watch the Super Bowl with this guy. Neither side wants to fund a whole trip (too expensive, spend 3 days with a vendor??) but they're more than happy to fund the game.  So a lot of vendors either hear a guy is going with no tickets, or the guy plans a golf trip around the super bowl knowing he can get the vendor tix.  The original $2K price was a steal for this scenario.  And if your company funded the tickets as a sales expense, it doesn't matter what the current price is, you can't sell them onward (bribery, client relations, expense account rules, etc.). Too bad my company has strict ethics rules.

Sun, 02/01/2015 - 01:18 | 5730841 hairball48
hairball48's picture

Fuck the Super Bowl and all those overpiad whiners.

I'm going snowshoeing

Sun, 02/01/2015 - 05:11 | 5731056 dreadnaught
dreadnaught's picture

 n/t

Sun, 02/01/2015 - 05:12 | 5731057 dreadnaught
dreadnaught's picture

on GLP a poll showed that 80% of the respondants could give a shit about the SUPERBOWL.... .kinda surprised me.

Sun, 02/01/2015 - 01:28 | 5730865 falconflight
falconflight's picture

I haven't watched a single football game; college or professional the entire season, and certainly won't watch this foolish pentacle of the bread and circuses parade.  Why would I want to enrich the 1 percenters; the players, owners, and corporate sponsors?  why

Sun, 02/01/2015 - 04:21 | 5731021 SilverFish
SilverFish's picture

When in Rome..........

Sun, 02/01/2015 - 10:43 | 5731342 VAD
VAD's picture

In the future, .gov will make it mandatory to buy Stupid Bowl tickets as a means to ensure we all have equal access to quality entertainment at someone else's expense.

 

 

Sun, 02/01/2015 - 12:51 | 5731598 Oldrepublic
Oldrepublic's picture

Super Bowl - Nuremberg rallies

Sun, 02/01/2015 - 15:19 | 5732003 Clowns on Acid
Clowns on Acid's picture

Money printing works in mysterious ways..... Will Yellen do the coin flip ?

Sun, 02/01/2015 - 16:10 | 5732136 Mi Naem
Mi Naem's picture

""Black Swan" moment will leave some fans showing up to Arizona having paid for tickets they’ll never receive..

Good.  I think Pastis called it just right.  

http://assets.amuniversal.com/85d18f3070e00132b90d005056a9545d

Oh, but they have such goood commeeeeercials!  Nauseating song sung by the same dupes who actually pay clothing makers in order to obtain and wear prominent logos that advertise the clothier company / designer. 

Makes me want to start a business making size XXL, XXXL, and XXXXL clothing with satrical "logos" protected by free speech, and selling it real cheap.  Abercrammie anyone? 

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