Keen interest for Giants-Cowboys tie

The New York Giants-Dallas Cowboys showdown this weekend in New Jersey offers a post-season spot to the winner and is pushing ticket prices to the regular-season finale up more than 56 per cent to an average of $481. The most paid so far is $2,500 for a field-level spot behind the Giants' bench, and ticket resellers said yesterday that prices are matching those usually attached to post-season games. The New Year's Day matchup is essentially a play-off game, with the National Football Conference's East division title and a post-season berth on the line. The winning team moves on while the losing team's National Football League season is over. That has driven some sellers to seek as much as $4,000 per seat for the nationally televised game at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, according to TiqIQ, an event ticket aggregator that tracks listings from StubHub, EBay, TicketNetwork and TicketsNow. "If you're a Giants season-ticket holder and you don't want to go to the game — it's a little weird, but if that is what you want to do — you can make quite a bit of money selling your tickets this week," TiqIQ spokesman Chris Matcovich said in a telephone interview. Cheapest and highest The cheapest ticket on the secondary market — the so-called get-in price — is $215, according to TiqIQ. The average ticket price for the Giants' first seven home games this season was $307.84. StubHub has resold 7,800 tickets for the January 1 matchup, the most for a Giants game in the company's 11-year history, and expects to surpass 8,000, said spokeswoman Joellen Ferrer. The highest price paid for a ticket at StubHub is $2,500 for a Coaches Club seat in Section 113, on the 50-yard line behind the Giants' sideline. "We're seeing prices rival what we would ordinarily see for a play-off game," Ferrer said in a telephone interview. "This is basically the play-off round before the wild card." The average resale price for the Giants-Cowboys game is more than the current $416 average cost for a play-off ticket to see the Houston Texans, who qualified for the post-season for the first time in their 10-year history. The Giants and Cowboys enter this week's game with 8-7 records, guaranteeing the NFC East champion will have fewer than 10 victories for the first time since the 1970 merger between the NFL and American Football League. "It is a big advantage playing here with our fans and their natural hate for the Cowboys is always good," said Victor Cruz, a Giants wide receiver whose 1,358 yards on catches this season has broken Amani Toomer's team record. "The fans will be on our side and it is good to be home." Home record The Giants' 3-4 record as the home team is tied for the worst among the NFL's remaining playoff contenders. The Giants seek to return to the post-season for the first time since the 2008 season, while the Cowboys aim to avoid missing the play-offs for a second straight year. Both clubs are targeting their 31st post-season appearance and are tied for the most in league history. Although the Cowboys hold a 56-41-2 advantage in the series, the Giants have won four of their past five meetings. The Giants scored two touchdowns in the final 3 minutes, 21 seconds to win this season's first matchup, 37-34, on December 11 in Dallas. The game featured eight lead changes, the most in the NFL over the last two seasons, and Jason Pierre-Paul blocked a 47-yard field goal attempt by the Cowboys with one second left.