Ticket prices for Super Bowl are through the roof

People are paying record prices for Super Bowl tickets this year, and the Green Bay Packers aren't even in it! Apparently Giants and Patriots fans are just as fanatical though, driving ticket prices into the thousands.

Face value on the tickets is $700 or $900. StubHub, a part of eBay, is showing prices ranging from $2,450 to $19,446, and company officials say the average price for tickets is about $4,300.

Can the National Football League do something about the inflated prices? Not really... people in possession of the tickets are generally able to do what they want with them. While the resale of tickets at the site of the event is generally restricted, resale off-premises by a ticket broker or other resale service is generally allowed.

These prices are crazy. I can't imagine any event being worth that amount of money. Everyone knows that the best seats for a football game are in the living room in front of the television anyway. That's where you get all the instant replays and commentary. It beats paying thousands of dollars for a crummy seat in the nosebleed section any day.

Tracy L. Coenen, CPA, MBA, CFE performs fraud examinations and financial investigations for her company Sequence Inc. Forensic Accounting, and is the author of Essentials of Corporate Fraud.