Ticket prices for Saturday's Steelers game -- probably the final sporting event ever at Three Rivers Stadium -- are rising faster than Coach Bill Cowher's blood pressure at a post-loss press conference.
Scalpers going through online auction houses eBay and Yahoo! are listing tickets to the match-up with the Washington Redskins at up to $360 apiece, and some ticket brokers are asking $500.
That's quite a premium over face value, which is either $40 or $45 depending on the location. Tickets to the Steelers' last regular-season game in San Diego on Dec. 24 are selling for no more than $85 online.
Although the Steelers got their aspirations kicked last week in their 30-10 loss to the New York Giants, plenty of fans are still demanding seats to witness history being made Saturday.
If the Steelers don't clamber to a playoff berth and a possible post-season game at the stadium -- a long shot at best -- fans will be treated to the end of an era at Three Rivers, which is scheduled to be demolished Feb. 18.
"It' s definitely been a sizable demand," said Carl Rose, president of StageFrontTickets.com in Columbia, Md., which is serving both Steelers and Redskins fans.
Prices at StageFront were recently as "low" as $150 for a ticket, but Rose said those bargains are sold out and fans are more likely to see prices around the $400 to $500 mark.
Shawn LaRue, 25, of South Bound Brook, N.J., near Rutgers, is a happy man. Not only does he have tickets to see the Steelers, his favorite football team since he was 8, but he just sold a pair of extra tickets to a Pittsburgh woman for $330.
Before closing his auction on Yahoo!, LaRue fielded 10 e-mails from people who wanted to haggle.
Although tickets are fetching hefty prices in some quarters, LaRue said he's seen the cost wane since the Steelers fell apart last weekend. Before that game, he said, some brokers were asking $400 a pop.
Not everyone is seeing demand in the marketplace. Ohio-based broker Riverfront Choice Tickets reported little interest. And Mike Shores, 34, of Green Tree, said his quest to secure up to two dozen tickets has been a cinch so far.
"It's definitely a buyer's market right now," Shores said, crediting the loss to the Giants. "My phone's been ringing off the wall. There's a lot of fair-weather fans. I could buy 'em all day."
Shores already owns 14 tickets and paid no more than $75 for any of them.
That doesn't mean that everyone is selling on the cheap, though.
"The fans are really greedy," Shores said. "You should see. Some people call me, they want 200 a ticket, 300 a ticket. I tell 'em, 'Well, go ahead an' eat 'em.' "
As tickets trade hands and fans look forward to the final-day festivities, more serious preparations are occurring.
SMG, the manager of Three Rivers, has doubled the size of its usual security crew to about 40 private guards, city police and county officers, said general manager Jimmy Sacco.
Mounted police will be on the field at the game's end to ensure that no one rips up the turf, Sacco said.
Pieces of the artificial turf are among items from the stadium that will sold at auctions next month.
Three Rivers Saturday finale a hot ticket 
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