Scoring a Ticket to the Super Bowl

On February 2nd, MetLife Stadium will host the Super Bowl. It would be no surprise that ticket prices for the game in New York would be more expensive than past Super Bowl's simply because it is in New York.

ESPN's Darren Rovell wrote an article detailing the prices that are being discussed for suites in MetLife for the Super Bowl that I could not believe. One big factor that makes suites more valuable in MetLife than in other typical Super Bowl destinations is the potential for bad weather. The game will be held in early February in the northeast part of the country, it would be no surprise for the game to feature adverse winter conditions.

In a typical Super Bowl, the best suite available can be bought for $175,000. This season's Super Bowl in MetLife has suites listed as high as $945,992 on a ticket buying website. That price can buy you a suite that can hold up to thirty people and provides food and an open bar.

For the average fan that will not be going to the Super Bowl in a suite, a ticket to the game will still certainly not be cheap. The face value for the tickets have not been released yet, but as a comparison last years ticket pricing in New Orleans ranged from $850 to $1,250. A number that can be better predicted is the number of tickets that will be sold for the game.

MetLife can hold 82,500, but typically a Super Bowl will make that capacity less due to the need for cameras and media. With this in mind, the breakdown for the ticket distribution is interesting. The National Football league will have roughly 20,000 tickets. The New York Giant and the New York Jets will each receive about 2,500 tickets, the AFC and NFC champions will each receive about 14,000, and the remaining teams will each get about 1,000 tickets. The NFL also reserves about 500 tickets for the general public lottery.

Final Thought
Although the NFL season just started, the Super Bowl is already being talked about. I expect ticket prices to be much higher than normal when they are released. The face value of the tickets end up meaning very little. I will be interested to see what the prices are on the secondary ticket market.

@dmrosen7

Lights Go Out On Super Bowl Ratings

Well not exactly the moment the NFL was predicting on the biggest stage in sports.

After a dominating first half for the Ravens, they expanded the lead with a kickoff return for a touchdown to start the second half. It looked like this game was going to be a blowout. Then the moment that will define this Super Bowl in the years to come......

The lights went out.

It was a very strange moment. After a few minutes of confusion, the viewers were informed of the situation. After a lengthy 34 minute delay, the game resumed but changed drastically. As the lights in the stadium turned on, the 49ers turned it on. They battled back and had a good chance to take the lead late in the game. After a controversial no call, the Ravens held on for the win.

While I was waiting for the delay to be over, all I could think about was how many viewers would turn off the game for good. The game was not close, so how long would the viewers be willing to wait in a delay? Would viewers comeback when they saw the game was getting close? Lets take a look.

An average of 108.4 million people watched the game. This number is extraordinary, but it is down from the previous two Super Bowls. In 2011, an average of 111 million people watched the game. In 2012, the number increased to 111.4 million people.

Although the viewers were down from last year, advertisers should be happy. CBS reported that the game was sampled by 164.1 million people this is up from last year's 159.2 million people. The viewers who "sample" a game are those viewers who watched at least six minutes. Advertisers will be thrilled with this number, and they should. This year Super Bowl advertisements averaged between $3.8 million and $4 million per 30 second ad.

It appears that those who turned off the game during the light delay, tuned back in for the end of the game. The final minutes of the game had the highest average viewers with 113.9 million people watching.

Final Thought
The NFL got extremely lucky in this game. After a terrible first half, the problems for the league got worse. After a long delay due to the lights, they could have lost a lot of viewers. The NFL got bailed out by a great 49er comeback. They got bailed out once again when the officials failed to call holding on a critical 4th down play at the end of the game. Had the officials called holding and the 49ers went on to score and win the game, controversy about the lights destroying the momentum of the game would be a top news story. Roger Goodell has reason to be a happy commissioner.

@dmrosen7


@I95_Sportsbiz

Dollars & Sense - Super Bowl 2013 Primer

There has been a petition going around.  This petition is a sports fan's dream... to make the day after the Super Bowl a national holiday. (You can find the petition here).  It really is an interesting proposal which got me thinking, what if?

---

Everybody has their Super Sunday staples. Wings, pizza, beer, what have you. Would making the day after the Super Bowl a national holiday cause an uptick in spending on these foods?  As I add in my two cents, I want you to share yours in the comments section.  What is your favorite Super Bowl foods and drinks?  Do you think that having the Monday after the Super Bowl off would increase beer sales?

Wings

We all know that Americans love to eat, and what a better time to chow down than on the extra special occasion of Super Bowl Sunday.  It's the perfect excuse to bring together friends and family.  Whether people eat at large parties, in small groups, or on their own does not matter.  What matters is that the food will be free flowing and in huge demand.

This is exactly why 1.23 billion wings will be sold and eaten on Super Sunday.  Really, it is simple math.  Wings and sports just harmonize together (just as wings and beer, just as beer and sports, and just as wings and beer and sports).  Assuming that the reported wing shortage can be overcome, we know that the chicken wings will be plentiful.

In a surprising turn, 57% of Americans prefer to eat their wings with ranch dressing and only 35% prefer bleu cheese dressing (I would assume the remaining 8% prefers naked).  I thought this was surprising considering my personal bias leans 100% bleu cheese.  Honestly, if there was only ranch dressing, then I would probably prefer to eat wings naked.  

Pizza

Last year the chains of Dominoes, Pizza Hut, and Papa John's reported that they delivered a total of 44 million pizzas on the Sunday of the big game.  This year will likely see around the same numbers in pizza delivery.  (I will say that I'm disappointed that people went for the chains that provide "pizza" and not a local pizza shop, but who am I anyway).

Pizza is the logical choice when have a group of people together.  Easy to switch up.  Everybody likes some sort of pizza.  But beware of the pizza chain pizza.  Check out this horrifying tweet from @EatThisNotThat:

Pizza Hut Stuffed Crust Meat Lover's Pizza takes it too far—cheesy crust, pepperoni, ham, beef, bacon, sausage, and 480 calories a slice!
— Eat This, Not That! (@EatThisNotThat) January 30, 2013

Beer

Beer and other forms of alcohol (no not butt-chugging) was what really came to mind when I heard about the petition for making the day after the Super Bowl a national holiday.  The Super Bowl is reportedly the seventh highest beer sales occasion of the year (the number of cases of beer sold in the two weeks before the event).  Before the big game, a reported 49.2 million cases were sold last year. 

If you were wondering, the Fourth of July ranks numero uno in that category with a whopping 62.5 million cases of beer sold in the two weeks leading up to the date.  That number may be aided by the fact that it is the summer, and summer is naturally more of a beer drinking season than the winder.  You get the point, though.

I was thinking, though, would having the next day off increase the number of cases of beer sold?    Think about it... How many people out there set a drink limit for themselves because of an 8 hour day looming on Monday?  How many people are going to listen to the San Francisco mayor's suggestion for bars to go liquor free during the Super Bowl?

Instinctively, I would think that having the day after the Super Bowl would help beer/liquor sales.  There is less to worry about and less consequence.  Even if one out of every five or six or even 10 beer drinkers drinks one more beer, that is still a lot of beer. 

The thing that makes me really think about it is wondering how many people would actually have off.  Just because it is a national holiday does not mean that everyone's business is closed.  It would all depend and, given my background, impossible to truly forecast.  

It is, however, something to think about.  This petition is truly unique to football.  It could never happen in Major League Baseball or the National Basketball Association or the National Hockey League.  Their highest honor is determined by a series of games.  The position shows the NFL's dominance in the landscape of not just sports but the entire culture.  It really makes you think, what if?

---

Super Bowl Commercials Pre-Released

Every year, millions and millions of people tune into the Super Bowl... for the commercials.  Companies have caught on to this trend and have begun digital media campaigns prior to the big game to begin capitalizing on the game's momentum before super Sunday.  

Youtube has launched a page called Adblitz which features a funny, parody infomercial from Tide advertising their new Stain Savers (see below).  Tide is also pushing the use of the hashtag #miraclestain to further consumer engagement with the brand leading up to Sunday.  The channel also features other Super Bowl content including NFL videos, player interviews, and tailgating recipes.

Volkswagen also released their commercial for this year's game here.

And Century 21 here. 

Axe too here. 

This year, a 30 second ad spot during CBS's broadcast of the game cost a reported $3.8 million.  For those counting that's about $126,666.67 PER SECOND. That is a Super Bowl record.  

Is the idea of companies releasing their Super Bowl ads beforehand a good idea?

---

Super Bowl Must Reads

Here are a few must reads before the Baltimore Ravens and the San Francisco 49ers square off in Super Bowl XLVII on Sunday night on CBS.  

Kevin Van Valkenburg (ESPN) writes about the man that may be a bigger leader for the Ravens than Ray Lewis: Ed Reed.

Dan Wetzel (Yahoo Sports) writes about Colin Kaepernick, the controversy surrounding him, and the man that put it on him.

Tommy Tomlinson (Sports on Earth) writes about Barack Obama, Bernard Pollard, and their feelings on the game of football as we know it. 

Frank Bruni (NY Times) writes about Brandon Ayanbadejo's fight for the LGBT community during Super Bowl week. 

Dave Zirin (The Nation) weighs in on Brandon Ayanbadejo's cause as well. 

Bruce Arthur (National Post) wrights that you should not ask Ray Lewis about the two dead men because he is not talking about the past.

Darren Rovell (ESPN) explains why Super Bowl ticket prices are plummeting in the week of the anticipated HarBowl. 

---

Degenerate Gambler Top Prop Bets

Distance of the shortest punt of the game - over/under 35.5 yards.

What will the coin toss be - heads (-105) or tails (-105)

Who will win the coin toss - Ravens (-105) or 49ers (-105)

Full list of team prop bets from Bovada here.


---

Awesome Non-NFL-Affiliated Promotions

Do NFL lawyers call Chipotle on this one? say.ly/qGp53KE
— darren rovell (@darrenrovell) January 29, 2013

---

Here is your Pep Talk for the Super Bowl.