Source: Kevin Sabitus / Getty
Super Bowl LIX was a hot ticket. Maybe too hot for some NFL players and employees. More than a hundred are set to be fined and/or lose their allocation for the next two Super Bowls after league sources revealed they sold their tickets for more than face value.
“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,” NFL chief compliance officer Sabrina Perel said in a memo sent out to all 32 NFL teams.
The 100 players represent a little over 6% of the entire NFL player rosters. But per an ESPN report, there are team employees, including coaches, who are among the number who sold their tickets.
“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,” the memo continued.
Players and team personnel sold the tickets to “bundlers” who were working with resellers, per the memo. Penalties will increase for anyone deemed to be working with the bundlers to help facilitate sales. Fines would be one and a half times what the player or employee sold the ticket for, and they would lose the chance to acquire them for the next two Super Bowls. There could also be suspensions involved. Some of the players involved have already elected to pay the fines. Those who lose their allotment would only be able to purchase tickets if they are playing in the Super Bowl.
The league would not release names of players, coaches or team personnel who were part of the crackdown.
Tickets for Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans, which resulted in a 40-22 win for the Philadelphia Eagles vs. the Kansas City Chiefs, ranged in cost from $2,588 to nearly $3,500 for the cheapest seats. On the high end, some tickets were more than $10,000.
See social media’s reaction to the bust below.