TAMPA, Fla. — The NFL has come through — and Tom Henschel can avoid the ticket scalpers.

Henschel, 79 — a Cabot resident who lives in Tampa during the winter months — will be attending his 55th consecutive Super Bowl game next Sunday at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa.

His winter home is only a 15-minute drive from the stadium.

“The NFL sent us the invoice (for tickets),” Henschel said. “We have to buy two, but that beats what tickets are going for down here right now.”

His seats are behind one of the end zones.

Only 22,000 fans are being permitted through the gates when the defending champion Kansas City Chiefs take on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Henschel and Don Crisman, 82, of Maine, are the only two people in the world with proof they've attended every Super Bowl game.

Henschel has all of his ticket stubs from previous Super Bowls secured in plastic wrap inside binders. He keeps his game programs in a filing cabinet in the garage.

The NFL has sent them invoices for Super Bowl tickets for the past 35 years. Earlier this month, the league indicated it could not do so due to the limited supply.

“I would have found a way to get in,” Henschel insisted. “I'm seeing on StubHub that tickets are going for no less than $7,500 a ticket, or $14,000 for a pair, and those are for seats in peanut heaven.”

“Because we got the NFL's invoice, I only have to pay $5,000 (total) for my two tickets. We heard from the NFL 10 days ago. They said we were too important to the game's history to be left out.”

The $2,500 per ticket is the most money he's ever paid to attend the game.

“It's all worth it,” he said.

Having taken different family members and friends to the game over the years, Henschel is taking his wife, Regina, to this year's Super Bowl.

“Since it's so close, she wants to go,” he said.

Henschel's wife has been to 13 Super Bowls. Henschel's favorite Super Bowl games remain XIII and XIV, when the Steelers defeated Dallas and the Los Angeles Rams in consecutive years.

“My wife, mom and dad were with me for that game in Pasadena (vs. Rams) and there were 104,000 people there,” Henschel said. “That was something else.”

Including tax, Henschel put $5,125 on a credit card to secure his tickets for this year's game.

Henschel said Crisman will be extending his Super Bowl streak as well.

A third man — Gregory Eaton of Lansing, Mich. — claims to have attended every Super Bowl game as well, “but there's been no evidence of that,” Henschel said.

The last time Tampa hosted the Super Bowl was 12 years ago, when James Harrison returned an interception 100 yards for a touchdown on the final play of the first half in the Steelers' win over the Arizona Cardinals.

“That's my fondest Super Bowl memory,” Henschel said.

His favorite Super Bowl city is New Orleans. He is hoping Las Vegas gets a chance to host a Super Bowl soon.

“With Bourbon Street and the French Quarter, everything is right there in one place,” Henschel said of New Orleans. “You get to see all of the millionaires, all the big shots who are in town. When the game is in Miami or Los Angeles, everything is too spread out.

“With that new stadium and team in Las Vegas, they should get the game one of these years.”

Henschel is enjoying a few moments of fame in the days leading up to the game.

He made an appearance on FOX and Friends Wednesday morning. A producer from CBS in New York is coming to the Henschel household in Tampa this weekend to film a clip that will air nationally.

He appeared in Friday's Wall Street Journal and a segment featuring him has been filmed for Inside Edition.

“There seems to be more (attention) every year,” Henschel said.

As for this year's Super Bowl, Henschel is anticipating a game that may come down to the final possession.

“Two great quarterbacks,” he said. “The winner might be the last team that has the ball. I see Kansas City winning, 37-34.”

Henschel's streak began when he was given tickets to the first Super Bowl — known as the NFL-AFL Championship Game at the time — while working at an airport in Chicago. The highest-priced ticket to that game was $12.

Henschel paid $1,700 per ticket to attend last year's Super Bowl game.