Big-game options yield rich profits

Mike Robertson of Newburyport makes his living selling high-tech equipment, but during Sunday's exciting back-and-forth game between the New England Patriots and the Indianapolis Colts he turned into an options trader.

Robertson paid $1,000 in October for two Patriots options on TicketReserve.com, meaning he had purchased the right to buy two tickets to the Super Bowl from Ticket Reserve at the face value of $600 apiece if the Patriots made it all the way to the big game.

A huge Pats fan, Robertson said last week he had no intention of selling his options. He wanted to see the Patriots play in the Super Bowl. He had even made a plane reservation for Miami, where the game is being held. But he nevertheless posted his options on Ticket Reserve for $1,750 apiece, figuring no one would pay that much and, if they did, he couldn't pass up the money.

On Sunday, he raised the price of his options to $2,000 apiece. Just after the Patriots pulled ahead of the Colts 21-3 in the second quarter, Robertson, who was watching the game at a Worcester bar, pulled out his laptop and was stunned to discover his options had been purchased. His profit was nearly $3,000, but his chance to buy Super Bowl tickets was gone.

"My heart hit the floor," he said. But as the Colts pulled out their come-from-behind victory, and the Patriots options lost all their value, Robertson's mood shifted. "It ended up working out really well," he said.

Chikk Myers , a Patriots fan in Phoenix, had a similar experience. He owned two Super Bowl options for the New Orleans Saints and two for the Patriots. When the Saints lost to the Chicago Bears, he decided to sell his Patriots options, dumping them just before halftime. He sold them for $2,350 apiece, netting a $4,200 profit on all his option purchases.

"The market gyrations during a game are huge because that's where all the emotions rule," said Myers, a veteran trader.

Ticket Reserve is trying to capitalize on that emotion by establishing a futures market for big-game tickets of all types, everything from professional golf tournaments to college bowl games to the Super Bowl. The privately held company, which counts former professional quarterback and Republican congressman Jack Kemp among its board members, is even expanding to Europe with soccer and rugby ticket options.

The Deerfield, Ill., company turns a profit by selling the initial options to fans of various teams and taking a cut of each option trade price -- 7 percent from the buyer and 10 percent from the seller.

The website is currently offering ticket futures for some NBA and NHL teams and a number of college football bowl games. The price of options for next year's Bowl Championship Series title game varies depending on the likelihood of the team reaching the finals. Options for Florida or Ohio State, the two teams in this year's championship game, cost $156 apiece initially, while a Boston College option went for $32.

For this year's Super Bowl, options for the Bears went on sale at $18 before the season started, and late last week were selling for well above $1,000. The initial sales price of a Saints option was $25, $100 for a Colts option, and $125 for a Patriots option.

Andy Leach , Ticket Reserve's executive vice president, said the company was set up to give regular fans a chance to buy tickets to major sporting events at reasonable prices. Options are traded, but "at the end of the day most fans are coming in just because they want to see their teams," Leach said.

Ticket Reserve doesn't sell tickets above face value, but Douglas N. Masters , who has a sports practice at the Loeb & Loeb law firm in Chicago, said the total price a Ticket Reserve customer pays may be well above face value if the option price is included.

Ticket Reserve has ticket arrangements with a number of college football bowls but only some NBA and NHL teams. It has no deal with Major League Baseball or the National Football League.

Brian McCarthy , an NFL spokesman, said the league has rebuffed Ticket Reserve's offers to join forces because the league "didn't see the need to move in that direction." He said the NFL is selling various Super Bowl ticket, entertainment, and accommodation packages to companies at prices ranging from $4,300 to nearly $10,000.

For the Super Bowl, Leach said the company will have to buy upper-level tickets on the secondary market to fulfill its options. Yesterday on StubHub, the San Francisco ticket marketplace, the lowest priced seats in the upper level end zone cost more than $3,500 apiece and went as high as nearly $4,500.

Bruce Mohl can be reached at mohl@globe.com.