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With little fanfare, the NFL finally yielded on its long-standing anti-scalping stance, making this the first Super Bowl to allow the open resale of tickets for above face value. For years, the league insisted Super Bowl host cities have an ordinance that made it illegal to sell tickets near the stadium. But the City of Glendale, where the Arizona Cardinals and Phoenix Coyotes play across the street from each other, had a law that established a designated ticket resale area between the two facilities. Rather than asking Glendale to change the law, the NFL -- which recently signed a deal making Ticketmaster its official ticket re-selling agent -- allowed it to go on, unfettered. "I think the NFL figured, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em," said Steve Happel, a professor at Arizona State's business school who has studied the economics of scalping. "Basically, the NFL is into scalping themselves now after the deal they signed with Ticketmaster. It would be hypocritical for them not to allow it." The NFL equipped Glendale police officers with 20 scanners that allowed buyers to check the validity of tickets before they completed any transaction. Police ended up arresting a handful of counterfeiters, but the vast majority of the tickets they scanned were legit. "Scalping is going to happen whether we make it legal or not," Glendale Police Sgt. Kent Livingston said. "We might as well keep it safe." -- Newark Star-Ledger


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