ATLANTA — New England Patriots fans from all over Maine flooded Atlanta in the hours before Super Bowl LIII kicks off on Sunday.
Vanessa Novak and her friends, Toby, Lesa, and Tammy Densmore, all from Gardiner planned in October to come down to Atlanta for the Super Bowl to stay with two friends who are originally from Augusta. Before they knew it, the Patriots were playing in the big game.
Novak said ticket prices were steep: more than $2000.
“It’s probably my daughter’s books for college for four years,” said Novak. “We may be bleeding out of our noses, and we’ve lost a kid needs to pay for the tickets, but we are in section 345."
Many fans from Maine came down in large groups. Mark Walsh of Brewer coordinated 38 people, mostly from Maine to come down. With him at Super Bowl LIVE on Saturday were Eben Salvatore (Bar Harbor), Doug Hardison (Waltham), Barry Kimball (New Harbor), Bobby McGary (Bangor), and Matt Redstone (Scarborough)
“I talked to Tom Brady and Bill Belichick and they said if I brought this exact group it would bring good luck to the Patriots, so I put it together and here we are,” Walsh said, jokingly.
A ticket from the NFL costs slightly more than $2400. The cheapest on StubHub was around $2600.
Fairfield native David Dostie has an interesting approach: book a plane to the host city and get a hotel and try to get a cheaper ticket. He’s been successful several times, going to Patriots’ Super Bowls in the past.
“I’ve been hanging out at the Patriots hotel to no avail for the last two nights. Maybe today is the lucky day,” said Dostie.
Unlike Dostie, many of these fans are experiencing the Super Bowl for the first time, including Patrick Strawbridge and Bret Taylor, from North Yarmouth and Kittery, respectively.
“[Tom] Brady and [Bill] Belichick probably only have four or five more Super Bowls left, so I’ve got to get down here sooner rather than later,” said Strawbridge.
It seems many Patriots feel the same way. Atlanta is swarming with navy and red.
“It feels like home field,” said Walsh. “I think we’re going to have a big home-field advantage here this year.”
“A lot of patriots jerseys -- definitely out numbering the Rams,” said Taylor.
“I’m hoping the stadium is like that tomorrow,” said Dostie.