A single-file line spirals the Ibirapuera mall. Furthermore, it spills onto the street. The man they call “Curitiba” stands out with his giant backpack, glasses, and Green Bay gear. He wears a Jordan Love jersey, Packers hoodie, and hat. He reveals his credit card and jabs his forefinger at a seating map. Hundreds of people watch the scene unfold.
The team scheduled June 13 as the opening day of sales. However, local Ticketmaster staffers were caught off guard by the June 10 presale. They have had been preparing for 20 days to handle this madness. The NFL’s Brazil abruptly added an exclusive sale for XP customers as a belated bonus for the region’s presenting sponsor. XP is an investment bank based in Sao Paulo.
Brazilian law requires that officials sell 10 percent of any such tickets in person. In result to this, the box office of the mall rushed like a bank run. Panic has swept through social media. The online portal of Ticketmaster crammed 150,000 people into its digital waiting room. They sold only 15,000 pre-tickets.
Souza, 36 years old, 250 miles away in Curitiba, and a theater manager bought two tickets. He bought tickets to an Anavitória concert for Dia Dos Namorados. This is Brazil’s Valentine’s Day. His wife told him to sell his tickets and go to São Paulo. She said he should not come back without their NFL’s Brazil tickets. He exchanged the concert stubs for a seat on an 11 pm bus on Monday. On Tuesday, he saw nothing unusual at the mall. He slept in a hostel and returned at 10 am on Wednesday.
Souza asked the security where the line was. The security responded, “You are the line.”
In excitement, Souza loses his lawn chair. As he pums his phone and its digital receipt, fellow campers shout, “Curitiba!” His digital receipts were four tickets behind the goalpost. This totals 4,305 Brazilian reais or $766. It is roughly three times the monthly minimum wage in Brazil.