Super Bowl Deals and Fan Reactions
The Key for the week of February 3, 2025
Such a deal! Super Bowl ticket prices drop
Everything being relative, tickets to watch Ben’s favorite team (Philly) take on Kansas City are a near bargain this year. Over the last week ticket prices on the secondary market dropped some 30%, according to Front Office Sports, to around $3,300 a seat. As a comparison, last year’s ticket to the game in Las Vegas averaged a record $8,427. But what you save on a ticket, you probably will spend on a hotel room. Hotel prices so far are averaging $1,000 a night for two-star accommodations, and as much as $4,000 a night for high-end lodging, with most hotels asking for a three-night minimum. The good news for New Orleans is, there doesn’t seem to be any lasting trepidation from fans traveling to the Crescent City after the New Year’s Day terrorism on Bourbon Street. The better news is, if you really want to go to the game, prices probably will drop even more the closer we get to kickoff.
Storm Clouds in Clifton
That rumbling you hear around the UC campus? It’s not thunder, it’s grumbling from fans and alumni after the Bearcats’ last ugly loss at home, a 63-50 thumping at the hands of a beatable West Virginia team that came in on a three-game losing streak. For its part, UC (remember when they were ranked in the top 15??) has now dropped four conference games in a row and is now 2-8 in the Big 12. Want to get rid of Coach Wes Miller? Not so fast, my friends, as Lee Corso might say. The buyout, according to The Athletic, is $13 million if he’s released before April 1. After that date, it’s $9.9 million—a little less, but still a hefty price for UC. Fast forward a year, and the cost drops to $4.69 million. Bottom line, Wes Miller probably gets another year with the Bearcats just because of the cost of cutting ties. The gamble for UC becomes, do we save buyout cash but risk losing fans, donors and season ticket holders? We’ll see if that’s a chance they’re willing to take.
The words we’ve been waiting to hear..
Pitchers and catchers report! We’re getting closer every day to the start of spring training, and this week’s photo op of Reds equipment managers loading up the truck to go to Arizona was proof that spring is just around the corner, despite what the groundhog said. For your calendar, pitchers and catchers report next week, the first full workout date is February 17 and the first games are February 22 (split squad with the Guardians and the Brewers). Hope springs eternal, but this year seems to carry a little more optimism, not in small part because of the addition of Terry Francona as manager. And Opening Day is just under two months away.
Ben’s Best Bet
At the beginning of the week, the Chiefs stand as 1.5 point favorites, according to BetMGM. That number may change a bit the closer we get to kickoff, but Kansas City is expected to stand as a slight favorite as the Chiefs go for the three-peat. But the Eagles have a more powerful weapon than they did the last time these two faced off in the Super Bowl. Expect Saquon Barkley to be the difference-maker this time and take Philly for the outright win. As Ben says, Fly, Eagles, Fly!