February 2nd, 2009 by Warren Moore

Santonio Holmes’ six-yard touchdown reception from Ben Roethlisberger’s pass in the corner of the end zone with 35 seconds remaining helped the Pittsburgh Steelers complete a dramatic 27-23 victory over the Arizona Cardinals to win Super Bowl XLIII in Tampa.

Holmes barely managed to drag both feet down before falling out of bounds as the Steelers won a game that featured 23 fourth-quarter points and two lead changes in the final three minutes.

The victory gave the Steelers an NFL-record sixth Super Bowl title. The Cardinals, fought back from 20-7 down in the final eight minutes with 16 consecutive points. However, Roethlisberger drove the Steelers 78 yards in eight plays to break Cardinals hearts.

The Steelers’ sixth title sees them move ahead of five-time champions San Francisco and Dallas. While the Cardinals 61-year title drought remains the second-longest in American sport, trailing only the 100-year wait of baseball’s Chicago Cubs.

Fans lucky enough to secure Super Bowl XLIII tickets were also treated to a spectacular, 12 minute half time show from current UK album chart number one Bruce Springsteen.

It had earlier been reported that tickets for the 2009 Super Bowl had been selling far below the price levels of previous years, in some cases down as much as 40%. Super Bowl tickets usually trade for thousands of dollars on the secondary ticket market,  Super Bowl XLIII is the first time that average resale prices have dipped.  Last year, tickets were trading for as much as $10,000. However, this year, the highest ticket prices were reported to be nearer the $5,000 mark.

The 2009-2010 NFL season kicks off in September and UK fans will be pleased to hear that a regular season game will be hosted at Wembley Stadium for the third year running. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers go head-to-head with the New England Patriots on October 25. Hundreds of NFL tickets are still available for the Wembley Stadium game in the UK and prices start at £89 available via tixdaq.