Showing a clear understanding of the economic woes in the United States, the NFL has raised Super Bowl ticket prices by $100 for this season’s game.  The event, to be held February 1, 2009, at Raymond James Stadium, now has face values of $800 to $1,000, up from last season’s $700 and $900.

(XLIII seats can be had for $M each)

But fear not, thrifty Americans!  According to TAMPA BAY ONLINE:

Brian McCarthy, the league’s VP of Corporate Communications, said the NFL is working on plans to offer a limited number of tickets at a lower price for the Feb. 1 matchup between the champions of the American Football Conference and the National Football Conference.

Of course, most tickets to big time sporting events like this aren’t used by die-hard fans anyway, but are given out to corporate partners for distribution to executives as perks.  Still, it sends out quite a holier-than-thou message to fans to raise prices to a high watermark of $1,000 each while belts tighten all over the country.  The NFL has a reputation of being bulletproof, though, so I’m not expecting fans to riot over a game they weren’t going to attend anyway.