Super Pricey Super Bowl

 

In full disclosure I have never attended a Super Bowl game.

Interestingly, I’ve secured tickets to the big game on several occasions for friends and relatives through a long-time connection on the NFL Committee, but I’ve always maintained there is a reason that they make 55-inch flat screen TVs and oversized E-Z chairs. That way you never have to deal with parking, or lengthy lines at the refreshment stands during TV timeouts and halftime or inevitable snaking lines of humanity at the restrooms.

In fact, my last in-person attendance at an NFL game was a Miami-Dolphins-New York Jets clash nearly 10 years ago, when in the first quarter alone, there were four pier six brawls in the stands along with numerous flying cups of beer. After going to nearly 60 games in my life beginning in 1970, it was at that moment I vowed to retire permanently to my living room.

This year’s matchup will match the dean of NFL quarterbacks – the incomparable 43-year-old Tom Brady against arguably the best of the younger generation of gunslingers – Patrick Mahomes.

You know what else will be eye-opening? The average price of a ticket to the event which is $5,100.

Let me repeat that, $5,100.

Now to put that cost into perspective, someone somewhere compiled a list of what else $5,100 could purchase in lieu of going to one of the nation’s marquee sporting events. Now with my daughter’s wedding quickly encroaching, I didn’t require alternatives of where to invest $5,100 – as the catering bill will hit me soon enough. But for those of you seeking to spend four figures other than for a seat at Raymond James Stadium on February 7, below are some suggestions:

 

1.       500-plus bags of perennial Super Bowl advertiser peanut M&Ms

2.       A pizza a week for 6.5 years!

3.       17 full course dinners for two at Morton’s Steakhouse

4.       10, 9-day tickets to Disney World

5.       6 months of groceries for a family of four

6.       106 tickets to MLS soccer games

7.       550 movie tickets (when theaters eventually open)

8.       Nearly 1,400 days of a Starbucks latte

9.       23 nights at the Wynn Hotel in Las Vegas

10.   5 top-of-the line men’s suits at Brooks Brothers

Personally, I would opt for Morton’s and their signature porterhouse with balsamic asparagus and then watch the game on TV. In the E-Z chair of course.