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<\/h2>\nFrom scams to lawsuits to counterfeiting criminals, Super Bowl ticket scandals aren’t all that rare. So if you’re gonna splurge on one of the biggest sporting events of the year, check out these tales of outrage and heartbreak first. And learn from these unlucky few!
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<\/h2>\nIn 2011, many fans reported to Super Bowl XLV to watch the Packers play the Steelers only to find out that their seats had amazing views of\u2026 nothing. Or worse, their seats didn\u2019t exist.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s no wonder this scandal turned into a lawsuit<\/a> which took over four years to settle. These football fans-turned-plaintiffs claimed the NFL sold them seats which either weren\u2019t available (and never would be available), or their seats were terribly substandard because they had obstructed views. As in, they couldn\u2019t even see the famed replay board in the Cowboys Stadium let alone the field.<\/p>\n Those folks who bought tickets say the NFL misrepresented their seating arrangements and stopped them from getting to their seats in time for kickoff. Oh, and they were never told of these problems before game time. Most think the NFL purposefully attempted to hide the issues until the last minute to hide a potential PR scandal.<\/p>\n Around 2,924 ticket holders were relocated or delayed because someone<\/em>\u00a0(ehem, the NFL) failed to complete installation of quite a few temporary seats they had planned\u2026 but 434 unfortunate fans were completely out of luck.<\/p>\n The NFL claimed those 400-some people were wined and dined in the Miller Light Lounge where they were corralled to watch the game. Those involved<\/a> say, \u201cBut yeah, it was in the basement below the stadium and we watched it on TV!\u201d<\/p>\n The lawsuit ultimately settled, but not until the NFL had racked up a rumored $20 million in legal fees and a jury in a separate case awarded $76,000 to seven of those ticket-holders.<\/p>\n If this whole Super Bowl ticket business is like the stock market, 2015 was a bad year.<\/p>\n During the regular season, lots of fans bought \u201coptions\u201d to purchase tickets to the big game at face value. Most did this to avoid the shady business of the resale market\u2026 and then got screwed anyway. Other fans who purchased tickets from brokers got emails or phone calls days or even hours before the Super Bowl saying, oh yeah BTW, your tickets fell through!<\/em><\/p>\n How did this happen? Well, lots of brokers were selling tickets they didn\u2019t actually have. And why is that? Well, according to experts, there\u2019s a natural arc to Super Bowl ticket prices<\/a>. Prices are high before the AFC and NFC Championship Game, and then they soar even higher once fans learn their beloved team is actually going to be playing in the mother f’ing Super Bowl. Then, around the week of the game, prices tend to drop because brokers and resellers don\u2019t want to get stuck with valuable tickets they can\u2019t sell.<\/p>\n With the Seahawks scheduled to play the Patriots in 2015, most predicted a price drop due to \u201cfan fatigue\u201d – like maybe this particular fanbase was tired of turning out to see their teams play in Super Bowls year after year, because yeah, that happens…<\/p>\n But surprise, surprise! Prices just continued to rise.<\/p>\n Lots of fans didn\u2019t realize that brokers were \u201cshort-selling\u201d them tickets to the game. Which means brokers were posting tickets for sale online in a generic section of the stadium in hopes that customers would purchase them while prices were high. Then those brokers would buy the actual tickets later when prices dropped (to turn a big profit, obviously). Lots of brokers even wait until the week of the game or a few days before.<\/p>\n But when those prices never dropped – that\u2019s called a \u201cshort squeeze\u201d – lots of brokers reneged on sales in order to avoid a major loss. Yup, just called people up and said, \u201cSorry, but it turns out you don\u2019t have a ticket after all!\u201d This cost many fans<\/a> a trip to the Super Bowl entirely\u2026 and a few diehard others<\/a> ended up paying tens of thousands of dollars for last minute tickets.<\/p>\n Not so much a scandal as a general rule of thumb for anyone planning to attend a future Super Bowl: Babies don\u2019t get free tickets. Even if they\u2019re only two weeks old.<\/p>\n While babies might be able to fly on airplanes for free, the punter for the Broncos, Britton Colquitt<\/a>, learned the hard way that infants don\u2019t get a gratis lap seat in Super Bowl stadiums: “There’s no age limit to tickets. It’s $1,800 for our week-old daughter we just had. It’s kind of crazy.\u201d<\/p>\n And just FYI, that\u2019s the cost if you\u2019re ON THE TEAM! Players in the Super Bowl each get 15 tickets\u2026 but they still have to pay for them at $1,800 a pop.<\/p>\n For anyone (like me) wondering why you’d take a baby to the Super Bowl, Colquitt explains:\u00a0“If we win and my wife and two kids are there, but she’s not, how do I explain that to her? In the pictures, if we win, I’d like her to be in it.”<\/p>\n Ahh, so sentimental.<\/p>\n In 2017, a\u00a0clever con artist<\/a> pretending to be Ed Sheeran\u2019s manager swindled a charity with Super Bowl connections out of 4 VIP tickets. (Yeah, some awesome, pricey seats!) Apparently, he contacted The Giving Back Fund promising that the redheaded, English artist would perform two songs at a pre-Super Bowl concert the night before the big game. In exchange, he only wanted a few tickets worth $50,000 – no biggie.<\/p>\n The scammer, with great attention to detail, even met with the charity and sent over a contract with a forged Ed Sheeran signature on it. He accepted the tickets, and surprise, the charity never saw or heard from him again. Oh, and Ed Sheeran did not show up to perform. Shocker.<\/p>\n After they got wise to the scam, the charity contacted the police. Of course, by then the tickets had already been re-sold.<\/p>\n Here’s the thing: Everyone has to have a paper ticket in order to enter the Super Bowl. There are no \u201cprint-at-home\u201d or \u201csend me the e-ticket\u201d options when it comes to the big game. Supposedly, this stops potential online fraudsters… and makes a lovely framable memento for fans, obviously.<\/p>\n But it also means that these paper tickets are literally<\/em> worth more than their weight in gold. And that\u2019s why ticket-selling middlemen (companies like StubHub) have armed guards and forensic ticket inspectors on the payroll.<\/p>\n As a huge ticket reseller, eBay (who owns StubHub) doesn\u2019t just let anybody auction off their Super Bowl tickets on their sites. If you\u2019ve somehow managed to get your hands on tickets and want to sell ’em, you\u2019ve first got to first send the tickets by courier or personally bring them into their San Francisco or Santa Clara offices.<\/p>\n They\u2019ve got a team of experienced experts who\u2019ll examine them under natural light and feel the weight of the tickets to make sure that they\u2019re real. The ticket colors change every year and the design isn\u2019t revealed until the Tuesday before the game, giving counterfeiters less time to mastermind. The experts make sure the barcode scans and matches up with what\u2019s printed on the tickets and they ensure the numbers on the tickets match up to actual seats in the stadium.<\/p>\n![\"Stock](\"https:\/\/www.fanhospitality.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/stock-market.jpeg\")
<\/p>\nSuper Bowl XLIX – The Case of the Disappearing Tickets<\/h2>\n
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<\/p>\nSuper Bowl 50 – No, Babies Don\u2019t Get In Free<\/h2>\n
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<\/p>\nSuper Bowl LI – Ed Sheeran Stole Your Tickets<\/h2>\n
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Fake Super Bowl Ticket Scandals… Every Year<\/h2>\n