Can’t get a Super Bowl ticket? Try related activities like NFL Experience

The biggest professional football game of the season —Super Bowl LVII — is coming to the Valley on Feb. 12, and while very few Maricopans are likely to attend at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, there are opportunities for fans to enjoy activities surrounding the event.

A Super Bowl ticket is among the most difficult to obtain in all of sports. They typically carry a face value of $800 to $1,500, but often sell for several thousand dollars or more on the secondary market.

It was a little easier in 1982 in Pontiac, Mich., when tickets from the league were available for $40, and I was able to travel from Cincinnati to watch my beloved Bengals fall to the San Francisco 49ers.

The Super Bowl has grown into much more than the culmination of the National Football League season. It is a celebration of the sport with fans from around the world converging on the host city’s region.

Events for fans without game tickets include:

• 
  The NFL’s Super Bowl Experience at the Phoenix Convention Center continues Feb. 9-11. Among the features are autographs from current star players and legends, photos with the Vince Lombardi Trophy and testing your skills in interactive games. Tickets begin at $20.
• The Super Bowl Experience (Part II) is hosted by the local organizing committee at Margaret T. Hance Park in downtown Phoenix. A free celebration Feb. 9-12 includes family-friendly games and activities, live music and entertainment, and local cuisine. The official Super Bowl Watch Party also is in the park.
• The Bud Light Super Bowl Music Fest, a three-day concert series, is at Footprint Center, home of the Phoenix Suns. Lead performers will be Paramore (Feb. 9), Dave Matthews Band (Feb. 10) and Imagine Dragons and Kane Brown (Feb. 11).
• The Super Bowl Gospel Celebration is Feb. 8 at Mesa Arts Center and Taste of the NFL is Feb. 11 at Chateau Luxe in Phoenix. All offer tickets for fans.
• Two special media gatherings are the Historic Old Town ESPN Main Street Tailgate, Feb. 8-12 in Old Town Scottsdale, and the Fox Sports broadcast set, with programming throughout the week at The Great Lawn at State Farm Stadium.

Community green projects, youth-football clinics and a legacy grant program are among other initiatives associated with the Super Bowl.

No event of this magnitude can occur without thousands of volunteers. A group of Maricopa residents is among the crews that will welcome visitors at the airport and area hotels, offer assistance at the Super Bowl Experience and more. My wife and I will be stationed in downtown Phoenix for portions of three days providing directions and guidance for fans.

We bring a history of Super Bowl volunteer experience to the table. In our former home, we were part of Super Bowl XLVI in Indianapolis in 2012. We were on similar downtown duty, and I spent hours working below the zipline (a first for Super Bowl hosts) that carried thousands of fans soaring overhead.

That was the only Super Bowl in Indianapolis. This is the fourth for Arizona, following 1996, 2008 and 2015.

For the trivia-minded, the cities that have hosted the most Super Bowls are Miami (11), New Orleans (10), Los Angeles (8) and Tampa (5). Phoenix is now No. 5 on the list and looking to add to that in the future.