REFILE-NFL-Would you give up a kidney for Super Bowl tickets? Some would

By Steve Keating

Jan 16 (Reuters) - What would you give up to watch your favorite team play live in a Super Bowl?

A kidney? Abstain from sex for a year or break up with your significant other?

Some say they would do just that; give up organs and sex and end relationships for a Super Bowl ticket according to a poll conducted by ticket sales and distribution giant Ticketmaster.

The survey of 3,200 NFL fans (100 per team, split by gender) ages 18 and over conducted in the final two weeks of 2019 also found that the first thing 49% of fans would do if they struck it rich was buy season tickets while 16% said they have broken up with someone over their alliance with an opposing team.

The wide-ranging poll examined the ticket-buying trends in all of the NFL's 32 markets but also drilled down into the psyche of fans and what makes them tick.

"Surveys like these really speak to the mindset of the NFL fan – and drilling down to the team level provides even more insights into their preferences," Clay Luter, executive vice president and co-head of sports for Ticketmaster North America told Reuters.

According to the survey 74% of those polled consider themselves avid fans which helps explains the extreme lengths some suggested they would go to for tickets to see their team play, particularly in a Super Bowl.

Super Bowl tickets are among the sporting world's most coveted and hardest to find, with some going for tens of thousands of dollars on resale sites.

Still weeks from the Super Bowl in Miami on Feb. 2 prices were already as high as $36,000 on Ticketmaster for prime seats.

While beer and football go hand-in-hand 35% said they would give up drinking for a year to attend a Super Bowl featuring their team while 14% would give up sex for 12 months.

Giving up sex in return for a Super Bowl ticket was the only item on the list where women over-indexed men with 17% saying they would be willing to refrain for a year.

If giving up drinking or sex for a chance to see your team in a Super Bowl seems a significant sacrifice, consider that 7% said they would donate a kidney or leave their partner.

For many NFL fans supporting their team is a cradle-to-grave commitment with 28% saying they have considered or would consider naming their child after a current or legendary NFL player while 25% want to be buried in their favorite NFL gear. (Reporting by by Steve Keating in Toronto; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)