Super Bowl Fans Begin Arriving at Georgia Dome
ANDRIA HALL, CNN ANCHOR: Super Bowl XXXIV begins in less than two hours from now right here in Atlanta. And despite a chilly reception for arriving Tennessee Titans and St. Louis Rams fans, the weather is becoming more cooperative. CNN's Brian Cabell is at the Georgia Dome with all the pregame excitement -- Brian.</s>BRIAN CABELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Cooperative, Andria? I'd say it's almost balmy my recent standards, 37, 38 degrees. The ice is thawing out here, the streets are a little bit safer, the power outages are going away, so yes, it's not bad out here. Of course, the weather hasn't bothered the truest of fans, the so-called "tailgaters," who've been gathering in town. Some of them have come up with ice sculptures, as a matter of fact. They have come from all over the country. Not only St. Louis and Tennessee, but from all over the country to enjoy the atmosphere, to enjoy the barbecued food, to enjoy the drink. Many of them drinking rather heavily to fend off the cold. And you ask them if it's too cold, they say no, it's no problem at all.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is real football weather right here. This is the way it's suppose to be. This is the way it would be in Green Bay. This is the way it's suppose to be.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, the weather is fine. It was a little disappointing when the ice was on the road, but it turned out OK. It's fine.</s>CABELL: Now less happy are the vendors, the Super Bowl vendors. They've been out on the streets trying to sell souvenirs for the last few days. With 30 degree weather out there and ice on the streets, they haven't sold much. And they say their profits actually are rather slim.</s>UNIDENTIFIED VENDOR: Might lose money. Might lose money. This is going to go down as probably the worst Super Bowl ever.</s>UNIDENTIFIED VENDOR: It's been fair. You've still got your fans.</s>CABELL: The true fans are arriving right now, as a matter of fact. They've been arriving for the last few hours, and, of course, the game starts in about two hours. Now they were met at one point by a group of about 100 demonstrators against the Georgia state flag. The Georgia state flag contains an emblem from the Confederate battle flag which is considered racist by many here, in particular civil rights groups. They're asking for that flag to be changed and to come down. One final note here, Andria, ticket prices here are supposed to be $350 or $400, but we've talked to scalpers on the streets. They say anywhere between $700 and $1,300 right now are the going prices, depending on where those seats are. So we talked to a sheriff's deputy and he said, yes, he knows that there are scalpers out there, yes he knows it's illegal, but that's the way it goes. There's not much they can do about it.</s>HALL: And that's...</s>CABELL: I'm Brian Cabell, CNN, live in Atlanta -- Andria.</s>HALL: And, Brian, I guess that means there's very few seats left.</s>CABELL: There's very what now?</s>HALL: Very few seats left if the prices of the tickets are that high still.</s>CABELL: Yes, there's still a demand. At one point they were saying tickets might go as high as $2,000 for the really good seats, so they've come down somewhat. But yes, there is a demand out here. There are people out here on the streets saying, I want two tickets. And we talked to a couple who had just bought two tickets for $1,900. So, yes, there is demand out here. There are only about 70,000, 75,000 seats inside and there are a lot more people who would love to go to this game.</s>HALL: I'm sure the vendors wish they could see those people with the money. Thank you, Brian Cabell, reporting live from outside the Georgia Dome.