As game draws near, demand increases for supersized TVs

Many area outlets are renting and selling big-screen televisions as never before.

By MARK ALBRIGHT, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published January 22, 2003

Randy and Lydia Bryant spent six hours waiting at Raymond James Stadium to welcome the Bucs back to town early Monday. Hours later, the Lutz couple wore their new NFC Champions T-shirts and marched into a Circuit City to plunk down $1,400 for a big-screen TV.

"We kept putting off buying a big screen last year," said Randy Bryant, 29, a Jiffy Lube executive. "But this Super Bowl is just too big to watch on our old 30-inch TV. We've waited 27 years for this game!"

Nothing, it seems, moves big-screen TV sets like the Super Bowl. This year bay area retailers are enjoying the extra jolt that having a local entry in the NFL championship gives to big-screen sales and rentals.

More giant sets are being snapped up for hotels, restaurants and private parties for this year's Super Bowl than Tampa Bay electronics retailers can recall. And rental agencies are swamped. Some are collecting the fee for a minimum rental of three months from businesses and fans who want a set just for the weekend.

"I've seen no sticker shock yet," said Darren Isaacs, manager for the Temple Terrace location of Buddy's Home Furnishings, a rent-to-own store that wants $200 for a traditional (analog) 50-inch projection TV or $300 for an 64-inch high definition (HDTV) set.

Its rival, Rent-a-Center, wants $450 to rent a 55-inch HDTV-ready plasma screen.

"We're into long-term rentals, so our minimum is $352 for three months," said Nora Rosario, a clerk with Aaron's Rental Sales in Tampa. "But there's been a lot of interest. You're the eighth person to ask me about renting a big screen today, and it's only noon."

Normally, Jersey Jim Towers TV and Appliance rents 20 big screen TV sets for the big game. This year the Clearwater retailer expects to rent twice that many.

Retailers have used the Super Bowl to promote big-screen sets for years. That's because 11 percent of all big-screen and high-definition sets are sold in the three weeks before Super Bowl Sunday. That's more than any other event, including the Christmas holiday season. "More people seem to evaluate their TV needs right before the Super Bowl than any other time of the year," said Jeff Faust, spokesman for Best Buy Co., the nation's largest consumer electronics dealer. "This week interest has substantially heightened at our stores in Oakland and Tampa Bay."

Even Sam's Club, which typically doesn't advertise, made an exception to promote big-screen TV deals such as $984 for a 54-inch Akai and $4,972 for a Phillips plasma screen. At the front entrance of the Pinellas Park store, clerks erected a miniature football stadium from cases of Budweiser and Tostitos stacked 7 feet high. It's flanked by big-screen TVs beaming nonstop videos of the Bucs.

Since the last Super Bowl, prices for big-screen TVs and the latest high definition equipment have dropped 30-50 percent. The average price of an HDTV-ready projection set dropped to $1,600 in 2002, down from $2,433 in 1999.

With big-screen rentals expected to be in short supply and priced high, retailers know a few customers will be tempted to buy a set just for the weekend, then return it for a refund. Best Buy and Circuit City don't charge restocking fees for TV sets; both companies say few customers try such a stunt so they need not toughen their return policies.

Return rates are no higher after the Super Bowl than the rest of the year, according to the Consumer Electronics Association, a trade group in Arlington, Va. "We learned long ago how to pick out people who in effect try to get us to loan them a big screen set for a weekend," said Jim Towers Jr., owner of Jersey Jim's. "We don't give refunds unless there's a problem with the set. If you buy it, you're an owner."

As for the Bucs fanatics at the Bryant house, the new big-screen TV is only one item in a buying frenzy.

They also ordered limited-edition Bucs NFC Champions hats, commemorative coins used in the Super Bowl coin toss and apparel should the Bucs win Sunday.

"This week we're buying everything Bucs that we can get," said Bryant, who installed his set himself to tape all the pregame hype this week.

-- Mark Albright can be reached at albright@sptimes.com or (727) 893-8252.