One woman in Kansas City makes the case for being the world’s biggest Chiefs fan by swapping a pair of diamond wedding rings for some tickets to upcoming games.
On Thursday, a week after a woman posted an ad on Craigslist offering a trade of two diamond wedding rings appraised at $3,100 in exchange for tickets to the upcoming Broncos-Chiefs game, a deal was made. “The official trade was the ring for 4 tickets to the 12/1 Broncos game and 2 tickets to the 11/24 Chargers game,” the woman, who has remained anonymous, explained to the Kansas City Star. The cost for those six tickets was a pair of wedding rings, one a “size 7 ring [that] is nothing to sneeze at, a round brilliant-cut diamond — .45 carats — set in a white gold setting that contains 20 more small round diamonds weighing .50 carats,” according to the Star.
Apparently, the jewelry symbolizing one’s lifetime commitment to marriage couldn’t compare to the opportunity to see the Kansas City Chiefs—who are undefeated thus far this season, and who set the record for loudest home crowd at Arrowhead Stadium early this year—take on Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos at home in early December.
The rival Chiefs and Broncos face off in their first regular season game of 2013 this weekend in Denver. According to Vivid Seats, demand for tickets is exceptionally high, with the average price of a seat costing $617 on the secondary market. As of Friday, pairs of field level seats to the game were commanding over $2,000 on resale sites such as StubHub.
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Throughout the season, the Broncos have reliably helped their opponents sell out games whenever Peyton Manning and his record-setting offense come to town. At the beginning of the season, Vivid Seats noted a “Peyton Effect,” in which home ticket prices soar when teams host the Broncos. The “Peyton Effect” even significantly boosted the restaurant and hotel business in Indianapolis when Manning returned to play against his former team earlier this season, an Indianapolis news station reported.
While trading wedding rings for Broncos-Chiefs tickets may seem extreme—and would seem to indicate the involved parties didn’t feel all that strongly about the sanctity of marriage—the Craigslist exchange is actually pretty romantic all around.
The woman getting rid of the rings said they actually came from a previous marriage, and that they hold no importance to her any longer. And she was trading the rings in for tickets that she wanted to give to her current husband for his 40th birthday.
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As for the other side of the exchange, he’s a romantic too. Rusty Jones, the 49-year-old man giving up his tickets, has been a season ticket holder since 1993. The reason he was willing to part with his tickets is that he’s planning on proposing to his girlfriend, and the rings would help him seal the deal.