Meet the Globetrotters Who Spend Millions of Loyalty Points on Super Bowl Tickets
Super Bowl Sunday has always been a holy day on the American calendar. But with the NFL’s annual overseas dalliances no longer a novelty, social media and 24-hour news cycles allowing the whole world to follow along, and the minting of flag football as an Olympic sport, the big game has also become a global event.
This year in particular, walking in and around Levi’s Stadium in the Bay Area—where the Seattle Seahawks made mincemeat of the New England Patriots on Sunday—felt a bit like attending an international summit of football fans. Taking in the game from Marriott Bonvoy’s endzone suite, I was introduced to an eclectic band of globetrotters who had turned their lives of constant travel into a sweet reward: a VIP experience at Super Bowl LX. By cashing in over two million Bonvoy points for the full Super Bowl suite treatment—via Marriott Bonvoy Moments and other special packages—these experienced travelers also had access to perks like walking the red carpet at NFL honors, attending the Pro Bowl Games, and tapping into some 2000s nostalgia at Marriott Bonvoy House, where the All-American Rejects strummed their slew of hits on Friday night.
As I chowed down on the suite’s buffet of crab finger sandwiches, fresh sushi, and pork belly mac and cheese, I met people like Rick from Chicago, who was at his fifth Super Bowl in a row courtesy of Marriott. Over the course of his half-decade of big games (that’s Bay Area, New Orleans, Las Vegas, Arizona, and Los Angeles), Rick has crossed paths with celebrities like Leonardo DiCaprio and Jamie Foxx. His eyes really lit up with adoration, though, when telling me that he and his son were lucky enough to meet Alix Earle.
Through their Super Bowl escapades, Rick has also become familiar with Glen, a sweet Nova Scotian who called me “darling” and was enjoying either his eighth or ninth Super Bowl in a row, he couldn’t remember. Despite his vibe being slightly harshed by the Patriots’ putrid performance—hailing from the Halifax area, Glen became a Boston sports fan through geographical proximity—he had no regrets about exchanging his glut of travel points for a weekend in the sun.
Two seats down from me was Sven, who came armed with a German accent, stylish glasses, and a commemorative Super Bowl LX jersey with a giant 60 as the uniform number. Sven used to play football in his homeland, and when I asked what made him want to use his points on a trip to the big game, he gestured out toward the sunny gridiron paradise. “The weather in Germany is cold,” he said.
As the final seconds ticked off the clock and Seahawk-colored confetti filled the sky, I snapped a photo for Marc and Natalie of Naples, Florida, to have as a souvenir. “We don’t even go to football games,” Marc said, laughing at the fact that when they actually decided to do so, it was for the game that’s a top-of-the-bucket-list item for sports devotees. Of course, with its exorbitant ticket prices and the added travel costs for most fans, the Super Bowl does tend to have a more corporate crowd than other major sporting events. Outside the suite—whether it was at the hotel, in local restaurants and watering holes, or while bopping around the San Francisco streets—I did encounter several people who hit me with a shrug and an “I’m just kind of here” response when I asked what brought them to town. Trying to strike up a friendly pregame elevator chat with a man in a New England hat led to him revealing that he’d just come in from Scottsdale and only bought the lid to have something to wear to the game.
