$uper Bowl; Looking for tickets? You pay, they play.

• Author: Freeman, Rick
• Position: Living

Byline: Rick Freeman

NEW YORK -- Welcome to the Super Bowl, where demand always beats supply and the teams don't really matter.

The NFL championship game is one of the largest sports and entertainment spectacles in the world. The teams aren't exactly afterthoughts, but tickets are going to move quickly no matter how popular the two contenders are.

In fact, the number printed after the dollar sign on the front of a Super Bowl ticket has about as much in common with the price paid by its holder as the point spread does with the final.

Less, actually -- the point spread is at least an informed prediction that comes from the bookmakers' observations of previous events and the price the public will pay to bet its teams.

So, as we near the big game on Feb. 2 at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., let's take an inside look at the ticket trade.

HOW MUCH? Even on NFL.com, users in search of tickets are directed to a resellers' website, operated by Ticketmaster. On Thursday night, the cheapest ticket available was more than $3,000. (The league also conducts a lottery to purchase tickets for $500. These cannot be resold.)

On Stubhub, people were willing to part with seats for a little more than $2,500, 24 days and an hour before kickoff. Needless to say, these were all in the nosebleed sections. But fans eager to lock down seats now would probably be advised to wait.

"What were probably going to see is over time, the closer we get to the game, the more the prices will drop,'' said Smita Saran, Stubhub's senior spokeswoman.

Saran said that before last year's game, Stubhub was receiving searches for tickets up to an hour before kickoff.

She also pointed out that fans who purchase on Stubhub have access to a tailgate party where they can pick up their tickets in the parking lot -- they'll even give fans a lift there from New Jersey or Manhattan.

But that all depends on someone pulling the trigger on a major purchase.

WHO'S PLAYING? The teams in the game should have some bearing on the price. Large fanbases close to the New York City area -- think New England -- could cause demand and prices to rise. Two West Coast teams will face off next weekend, and no matter how ardently supported the San Francisco 49ers and Seattle Seahawks are, being a continent away from seeing the game in person will probably thin the horde's ranks.

The Denver Broncos, who go against the Patriots Sunday, are also a good distance from Newark Airport.

The halftime show is set...