updated 1:14 p.m. ET Jan. 29, 2008

NEW YORK - Die-hard Giants and Patriots fan are paying record prices to scalpers for tickets to this year’s Super Bowl in Glendale, Ariz., and the total dollar volume of resold seats could be the biggest ever, according to ticketing firms.

Asking prices for the Feb. 3 game range from $2,450 to $19,446 at StubHub, a unit of eBay Inc. and the biggest of the online resellers. Officials there say the average price so far is $4,300 for tickets that the National Football League originally priced at either $700 or $900.

“It appears our face value is underpriced based on demand and what people are willing to pay,” said NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy, who seems resigned to the fact that the league is mostly powerless to stop the profitable turnover of tickets.

Marcel Nadeau of Rehobeth, Mass., said he paid $29,385 to reseller RazorGator for a package that includes three hotel nights and breakfasts, transportation to and from the game, a gift package, and tickets for him and his two sons.

“I’m confident the Patriots will win,” Nadeau said in explaining why he is willing to shell out the big bucks. But even if they don’t, his next stop is already lined up: “On to Vegas we go.”

As many states have repealed laws banning ticket scalping and buyers like Nadeau seem immune to sticker shock, corporate America is jumping on the bandwagon in a big way. One of StubHub’s competitors, TicketsNow, is being acquired for $265 million by Ticketmaster, owned by IAC/InterActiveCorp, the New York-based Internet conglomerate controlled by media mogul Barry Diller.

Resellers bear little risk if tickets they offer don’t get sold. Instead, they make their money by requiring both buyers and sellers to pay commissions of between 10 percent and 15 percent.

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The matchup between the New York Giants and the undefeated New England Patriots is a clash of big-market teams from the chilly Northeast. The game-day forecast for the Phoenix area is for a high of 68 degrees. But even that doesn’t matter because the teams will be playing indoors in University of Phoenix Stadium, the 63,400-seat home of the Arizona Cardinals that will have its seating expanded to about 75,000 for the Super Bowl.

“You gotta mortgage your home to get into the game,” said Michael Hershfield, a former lawyer who recently started the ticketing Web site LiveStub.com. “There’s this recipe that’s been spiced up for a very exciting, very hot event. With all the changes in the industry, this combination has created this current wave of supply and demand.”

RazorGator Chief Executive Jeff Lapin, who is predicting total sales will set a record, is amazed what buyers are willing to pay. Tickets on his Web site are listed between $2,700 and $7,200. “I’m telling my friends to buy now because it looks like it’s going to be tight,” he said.

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Doug Anderson, a Giants fan for almost all of his 71 years, never attended a Super Bowl. But his team’s win over Green Bay got the retired truck driver from Mansfield, N.J., thinking.

When he saw a StubHub ad in his local newspaper, he and his wife Barbara rearranged their vacation plans and bought tickets for $2,800 each. Come game day they’ll be in Section 435, which is on a corner of the end zone on the upper tier.

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Another enthusiastic Giants fan named Marc, who asked that his last name not be used because of how much he is spending, paid more than $40,000 for a package through RazorGator’s Prime Sports. It includes four tickets on the 50-yard line, hotel stays and pre- and post-game parties to take his three sons, who are 9, 11 and 14.

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