The NFL is fining more than 100 players and two dozen team employees for profiting from one of their best employee perks. The players and personnel from roughly half of the league’s 32 teams are in hot water for selling their allotted Super Bowl LIX tickets above face value, the league said Friday.
ESPN and the Associated Press report that those involved will be fined one and a half times each ticket’s face value and lose their tickets to the next two Super Bowls, unless they are playing in the game.
Those who decline the punishment could be suspended by Commissioner Roger Goodell. The players are reportedly not being named due to the ongoing investigation. Some have already accepted the fines to avoid missing games.
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How valuable are Super Bowl tickets?
The ever-increasing demand for Super Bowl tickets is a boon to the NFL and its sponsors each year. Tickets to the first three Super Bowls cost just $12, which ESPN estimates is equivalent to about $112 when adjusted for inflation. Super Bowl LIX’s average ticket price was $8,076.
Leading up to the game in New Orleans between the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles, the cheapest tickets, according to various news reports, were anywhere from $4,400 on Stubhub to $5,900 on Ticketmaster. Many tickets were being sold for $10,000 or more.
The demand was so great that players such as Chiefs safety Justin Reid, who is from nearby Prairieville, Louisiana, were grousing about the cost of securing seats for family and friends.
“Ticket prices are running up, man. I got 30 of them,” Reid said. “So, we’re excited to go play and we’re chasing glory and all, but we gotta win just for me to break even.”
What did the NFL’s investigation find?
According to the league’s collective bargaining agreement, players on all 32 teams can purchase two Super Bowl tickets each year. While Reid was paying for more tickets, over 100 of his fellow players and team employees were doing the opposite, in violation of league policy. NFL head of compliance Sabrina Perel sent a memo outlining the investigation to all 32 teams.
“Our initial investigation has determined that a number of NFL players and coaches, employed by several NFL Clubs, sold Super Bowl tickets for more than the ticket’s face value in violation of the Policy,” Perel said. “This long-standing League Policy, which is specifically incorporated into the Collective Bargaining Agreement, prohibits League or Club employees, including players, from selling NFL game tickets acquired from their employer for more than the ticket’s face value or for an amount greater than the employee originally paid for the ticket, whichever is less.”
What steps is the league taking to prevent this?
Perel also said the investigation revealed that club employees and players sold their tickets to a small number of “bundlers” who were working with a ticket reseller. The memo, obtained by the AP, states that those bundlers will face increased fines.
The NFL will have mandatory training for all league personnel before Super Bowl LX to emphasize the specific requirements of the policy, and Perel said, “the broader principle that no one should profit personally from their NFL affiliation at the expense of our fans.”
