Over the past weekend, the supply on ticket sites suddenly dwindled.
"A consolidation of supply this year has led to a handful of sellers being able to manipulate the market and make it nearly impossible for last-minute fans to go to the game," StubHub spokesman Glenn Lehrman said.
So on Sunday, brokers who still hadn't purchased their tickets, started buying tickets at more than $5,000 apiece, losing as much as $3,000 a seat just to save the integrity of their businesses, according to those on the buying and selling side, who spoke anonymously.
The alleged collusion between brokers also squeezed the websites that make up the ticket marketplace. Sites like StubHub guarantee that tickets sold will be delivered, so the company started buying tickets to protect itself from people who sold tickets but didn't appear to have the ability to actually deliver them, sources told ESPN.