Bandwagon Colts fans sell tickets

That thud you just heard was the sound of thousands of people falling off the Indianapolis Colts bandwagon. Yes, the argument of how soft—or hard core–this converted football town is, has begun anew. A 3-4 start to what was thought to be a promising season in a new stadium has sent more than a few ticket holders to the secondary market looking to recoup a few—hundred—bucks.

Unfortunately, the slow start coupled with a super slow economy has dried up demand for those once coveted Colts tickets. $75 tickets for this Sunday night’s Colts-Patriots games sold on eBay earlier this season for $450 each. I should mention that was before Patriots quarterback Tom Brady went down for the season with a knee injury. Similar tickets are now on sale for $110. I emphasize on sale, because they haven’t sold yet.

“We’re looking at the prospect of taking face value, maybe 10 percent above,” one ticket broker told me this week. “A month ago, who would have thought it would come to this?”

There’s an abundance of Colts tickets available on-line in the $40 range, in some cases at face value. Tickets for less desirable games such as the Houston Texans Nov. 16 are likely to slide below face value, especially if the Colts losing record persists, local ticket brokers said.

Let’s not start bashing fair-weather fans just yet. This could be part of a national trend that has more to do with the recent economic swoon than Colts fans’ true blue streak. eBay’s Stub Hub division reported a “significant slowdown” in the third quarter of this year, and officials for national ticket broker Ace Ticket reported that in some cases they had to drop the prices for tickets to Major League Baseball league championship and World Series games below face value.