The quest to purchase Super Bowl tickets as a fan is a difficult one. The teams playing in the game each get a chunk, the host team gets a smaller chunk, the other teams in the league get a sliver of the pie, and the NFL retains around 25% of the tickets for sponsors and media and celebrities and such to distribute at their will.
In a Q&A with the Chicago Tribune, Rachel Nichols talks about her return to ESPN, her new show, and some of her past experiences in sports. She also gave this answer to a question about Roger Goodell, in which Nichols revealed that neither she nor Will Smith, the star of Concussion, appear to be getting tickets for the Super Bowl from the NFL this year.
Has Roger Goodell called to congratulate you?
I have not gotten anything in the mail or any phone calls. I actually recently did an interview with Will Smith before he was promoting the movie “Concussion” and he was saying he was dismayed that his offer of two Super Bowl tickets had not come through this year. And I pointed out to him that I hadn’t gotten that, either. I don’t think I will be at that particular press conference this year. Does that mean I will never be at a press conference for the NFL or Roger Goodell or the owner’s meetings again? It does not.
I’m not going to cry for a multi-millionaire like Will Smith that can buy prime tickets from any outlet if he really wanted to…but man, that’s cold, NFL. If Smith had been getting tickets for the game from the league for years, and they suddenly freeze him out after his role in Concussion, that’s not a coincidence.
As for Nichols not getting tickets? Well, that’s not a surprise after she blistered Goodell during a September 2014 press conference. But if ESPN really wanted her there to cover the game in one role or another, she’d be there. Her focus is probably on her new daily NBA show, though.
