Michael Giberson
One month ago, you could have bought a ticket to see the Giants in Super Bowl XLII for $86, says The Arizona Republic. Given that prices for Sunday’s game on secondary market Stubhub are offered at $1900 and higher, that $86 sounds like a pretty good deal.
More precisely, one month ago you could have bought an option at Yoonew.com that paid off in a Super Bowl ticket only if the Giants made it to the NFL’s big game, otherwise the option would have been worthless. Obviously, a month ago few people expected the Giants to make it to the Super Bowl. The Arizona Republic reports:
The company behind the Web site is in New York, but the idea behind the business came from two professors at Arizona State University.
Stephen Happel and Marianne Jennings wrote about their idea in the Cato Journal, which promotes free markets.
Two MBA students from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology saw the paper, liked the concepts detailed in it, and created Yoonew.com.
An article by the Arizona State University business school provides more detail about ASU professors Stephen Happel and Marianne Jennings, their research into and advocacy of secondary markets in tickets, and Yoonew, which Happel has advised: From Pork Bellies to Pigskin: An Online Futures Market for Sports Tickets.
(The Patriots have long been expected to have a good chance to make the game, and the Yoonew prices reflected that expectation, too. This post mentions that a Patriots fan paid $2000 apiece for options after the Patriots beat the Colts during the season.)