If you want guaranteed seats - buy them early

If you want to buy a ticket to Sunday's sold-out NFC Championship Game between the Arizona Cardinals and Philadelphia Eagles, expect to deal with a scalper.

But that doesn't necessarily mean you will have to pay the sky-high prices sought on numerous Internet sites, if you're willing to wait right up to the 1 p.m. kickoff at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, a scalping expert said.

"Tickets around game time will be around face value, but you will have to pay a premium for a really good seat," said Stephen Happel, an Arizona State University economics professor who has studied scalping for 20 years.

Happel said the age-old economic theory of supply and demand eventually will allow buyers to purchase a ticket for a reasonable price. The Cardinals allowed fans to buy up to eight tickets for Sunday's game, he said, and a lot of people bought tickets for speculative reasons.

Those who can't sell the tickets at inflated prices have two choices around kickoff: cut prices or don't sell the tickets.

But ticket brokers said waiting would limit a buyer's selection, and it's best to buy early if you want guaranteed seats.

For sale: $1,000 tickets

The ticket frenzy began Sunday, when the Eagles upset the New York Giants, giving the Cardinals the home playoff game. About 20,000 remaining tickets were sold in 6 minutes.

Season-ticket holders, before the regular season ended, had purchased the other 50,000 tickets. The team expects about 71,000 fans at the game, up from the regular-season capacity of 64,500. The team also quietly sold an additional 200 tickets Tuesday but said no more remained.

As of Tuesday, sellers online were asking in excess of $1,000 for lower-level seats, more than double the highest face value of $490, on sites like StubHub, RazorGator and craigslist. Yet RazorGator already was cutting prices from the previous day. The lowest face-value ticket was $120.

Marty Fettman, a Phoenix ticket broker since 1980, blames the Cardinals for thousands of tickets being sold online.

"They made the eight-ticket limit. If they wanted to control the scalping, they should have made it a two-ticket limit," Fettman said. "All the people who stood in line on Sunday and bought tickets are trying to capitalize and are in the ticket business."

Fettman agreed with Happel that prices will go down by Sunday, but he doesn't think anyone will get a ticket for face value. He predicts it will cost at least $250 for an upper-level seat and $700 for a seat between the 40-yard lines.

Legal in Arizona

Scalping, the process of selling a ticket above or below face value in a secondary market, is legal in Arizona. However, if the transaction is in person, state law requires it to take place at least 200 feet from an event.

In Glendale, the city has established a resale area at Maryland and 94th avenues near the stadium, and there will be police officers on site this Sunday, said Jennifer Liewer, a city spokeswoman. But Liewer said the city does not guarantee tickets purchased from a scalper will get them into a game.

Attorney General Terry Goddard also is warning fans.

"We will see very, very vigorous sales activity on Cardinals tickets, and, unfortunately, it's the perfect storm for scam artists," he said.

Goddard said if fans want to buy scalped tickets, they should purchase them from an established organization that has a permanent local address. He also said to pay with a credit card because those paying with cash have no legal recourse.

Those who want more selection should buy tickets online soon, said Sean Pate, a StubHub spokesman.

Pate added that the troubling economy has pushed down resale prices, even though some sellers are seeking high prices. He said the average sold ticket price for the NFC title game on his site was $334, the lowest price since 2003.