SAN FRANCISCO -- One of the biggest headaches for any player who makes the Super Bowl is getting tickets. The three biggest problems with Super Bowl tickets are: Everybody wants one, they're hard to get and even if you can get one, they're really expensive.
Actually, there's also a fourth problem: Everyone has to have a ticket, even babies.
Broncos punter Britton Colquitt found that out the hard way while he was putting in his ticket requests for Super Bowl 50. Each player is allotted 15 tickets for the game; however, to get those tickets, they have to pay $1,800 for each one -- and that $1,800 price even applies to 2-week-old babies.
Babies can fly free on a plane, but when it comes to the Super Bowl, they have to pay full price.
"There's no age limit to tickets. It's $1,800 for our week-old daughter we just had. It's kind of crazy," Colquitt told the Denver Post, days after the Broncos' AFC title game victory.
The baby girl, who was born just days before the AFC Championship, won't remember the Super Bowl, so why drop $1,800 to bring her?
"If we win and my wife and two kids are there, but she's not, how do I explain that to her?" Colquitt explained to CBSSports.com on Monday. "In the pictures, if we win, I'd like her to be in it."
Colquitt's explanation might sound crazy, but I assure you, it's not. In one of the weirdest coincidences ever, my family was actually in the same situation in January 1982.
My dad was the kicker for the Bengals, who had a Jan. 24 date with the 49ers in Super Bowl XVI. I was 11 days old. I didn't get to go to the game because it was in Detroit and my parents didn't think I'd be safe in a city with a high baby-stealing rate. That's a joke, Detroit, that's not true.
A big reason I didn't go was actually because of the temperature. Detroit had a high of about 10 degrees during Super Bowl week. I'm not a pediatrician, but apparently, that's too cold for a baby. Also, the game was being played indoors, which means no fresh air. Babies love fresh air.
In the end, I wasn't there, and every time I see pictures from the game, I cry a little inside knowing that I'm not in them. I don't want Baby Colquitt crying inside 30 years from now.
Anyway, there will be plenty of family members in California to help Colquitt take care of his newborn baby. The Broncos punter actually used his entire ticket allotment, which means he dropped about $27,000 on tickets.
"My wife's breast-feeding and the baby needs her more than anything and my wife doesn't want to miss the game," Colquitt said. "Our family's going to be there [for help]."
That help will probably come in handy: Colquitt has a total of three kids, who are all under the age of 4.
For some players, the ticket situation is slightly easier to deal with. Take third-string quarterback Trevor Siemian, for instance. The rookie, who actually served as the team's backup quarterback while Peyton Manning was injured, didn't even use half of his ticket allotment.
"This is special because you get to share it with friends and family you care about," Siemian told CBSSports.com. "I'm looking forward to having a crew out here. I've got six or seven of my friends and family out there."
Super Bowl tickets can do some serious damage to your bank account, especially to a rookie like Siemian, who only pulled in about $580,000 for the 2015 season.
So how much did Siemian spend for tickets and transportation for his family?
"Enough."
Rookies aren't the only ones who don't use their entire allotment. Veteran wide receiver Andre Caldwell didn't use his 15 tickets either. Caldwell was in Denver for the team's Super Bowl trip after the 2013 season, so he's dealt with the week-long headache that comes with Super Bowl ticket requests.
"I didn't get any weird requests this year, but I've been to the Super Bowl before," Caldwell said. "My first time around, I got a couple weird requests, but this time around, everyone already knew the deal [a.k.a. don't ask]."
Like Siemian, Caldwell is keeping his crew small.
"My mom and dad are going to be there. My wife, my kids. I kept it simple, that's going to be my group. The tickets are real expensive," Caldwell said. "I've got a lot of people who are going to be in the city, coming to support me, they're just not going to be at the game."
For Super Bowl week, guys like Caldwell and Siemian are the most popular ones in the locker room because they have extra tickets in their allotment. Those tickets generally end up in the hands of someone like DeMarcus Ware, who's headed to the Super Bowl for the first time in his 11-year career.
"This is his first Super Bowl. He had a lot of tickets. I don't know exactly how many, but I know he needed extra," Caldwell said.
The savvy veterans put someone in charge of handling Super Bowl tickets. As Eli Manning explained last week, he offered to be the point man for Peyton this year.
"I can definitely help him out with tickets," Eli said. "That's what he's done for me in the past, what I've done for him in other Super Bowls. Just kind of make it easy on him. He's kind of got the agenda down and knows what he needs to do and try to get it done as early as possible and out of the way so he can just focus on playing the game and preparation and enjoying this experience."
