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Sunday, Jan. 10 10:50pm ET Getting to Miami could be rough for Viking fans |
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Associated Press
MINNEAPOLIS -- Anyone thinking of following the Vikings to
Super Bowl XXXIII in Miami Jan. 31 had better start planning their trip soon.
Hotel rooms, flights from the Twin Cities to Miami and game
tickets are quickly being depleted.
Tickets are only available to the general public through ticket
brokers. The Vikings, who will be allotted 11,000 tickets by the
NFL if the team beats the Atlanta Falcons next Sunday, held a
lottery for season-ticket holders for some of those.
The remainder will be distributed to players, owners, sponsors
and others affiliated with the team.
Face value of a Super Bowl ticket is $325, but brokers are
getting significantly higher prices. According to the current
retail price sheet of Ticket Exchange, a broker in Phoenix, an
upper end-zone seat at Miami's Pro Player Stadium will cost you
$1,900, and seats between the 30-yard-line markers on the lower
level will go for $4,000.
Scalping won't be allowed on the day of the game, said detective
Pat Brickman of the Metro-Dade Police Department in Miami.
"We are going to have police out there in sufficient numbers to
prevent scalping," he said.
Fans who buy a charter package to Miami should make sure the
deal comes with a game ticket.
If the Vikings go to the Super Bowl, MLT Vacations will offer a
round-trip flight from Minneapolis to Fort Myers, Fla., Jan. 29 to
Feb. 2 for $355.90, plus $97 for a two-door economy car from Alamo,
said Diane Banks, MLT's ad manager.
Game tickets aren't included in the deal, and the drive to Miami
is about 160 miles.
Sports King, a Boston travel agency, expects to offer two
charter flights out of the Twin Cities if the Vikes are in the
Super Bowl. With hotel rooms and shuttles to the game -- but no
ticket -- prices will range from $1,100 to $1,400.
Northwest Airlines has four flights daily from the Twin Cities
to Miami. As of Friday, two flights were already sold out, said a
Northwest spokesman, but more seats might become available.
A round trip -- leaving Jan. 30 and returning Feb. 2 -- was
available for $302 as of Friday evening, according to a Northwest
reservationist.
Hotel rooms will be difficult to come by.
"If you are even thinking about coming, go ahead and make a
reservation immediately," said Jane Wooldridge, assistant features
editor at the Miami Herald, who supervises its travel section.
"This is high season in south Florida, and we are pretty much
booked up here anyway."
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