Feb. 1 (Bloomberg) -- New York Giants fan Darren Brindisi hasn't missed a home game in 17 years and considered splurging on a trip to Super Bowl XLII in Arizona this weekend. Instead, he bought a 47-inch Samsung high-definition TV.

``My wife said to me, save the four grand, we'll take $2,000, buy a new TV and have a party,'' said Brindisi, 38, a Consolidated Edison Inc. inspector who lives on Long Island. ``The Super Bowl is one day. The TV is going to last 15 years.''

Thousands of New Yorkers are rushing to buy high-definition sets before the Giants play the New England Patriots on Feb. 3. The Geek Squad unit of Best Buy Co., the largest U.S. electronics retailer, said home-theater installations rose 25 percent in the New York area in the past two weeks from the previous two weeks.

Brindisi's purchase may boost turnout for his party. Forty- three percent of people surveyed by Comcast Corp., the largest U.S. cable-television operator, in November said they were more likely to attend a Super Bowl party hosted by someone with an HDTV set. Forty-seven percent said they would try to watch the game in high-definition this year.

Retailers are hustling to close sales. Best Buy and Circuit City Stores Inc. guarantee that TVs will be delivered to customers' homes before kickoff if the purchase is made by tomorrow. P.C. Richard & Son, whose stores sell appliances and electronics in New Jersey and New York, is offering as much as $800 off flat-screen HDTV sets.

Hometown Boost

``It always helps when a local team's in the Super Bowl,'' said Gregg Richard, president of closely held P.C. Richard and great-grandson of the Hauppauge, New York-based chain's namesake. ``We're seeing huge increases in our sales.''

TV sales spike each January during the two weeks before the Super Bowl in the two cities whose teams play and increase all across the U.S., said Brian Lucas, a spokesman for Richfield, Minnesota-based Best Buy. There's an ``awful lot of excitement'' in New York, said Jim Babb, spokesman for Richmond, Virginia- based Circuit City.

The Super Bowl has been the biggest driver of U.S. HDTV purchases for the past three years and is expected to generate sales of about 2.4 million sets this year, the electronics association said.

Prices range from $200 for a 13-inch (33-centimeter) screen, measured diagonally, to more than $70,000 for a 103-inch (261-centimeter) Panasonic HDTV made by Osaka, Japan-based Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Suwon, South Korea-based Samsung Electronics Co. is the world's largest TV maker.

Missed Opportunity

The Giants' last appearance in the Super Bowl, a loss against the Baltimore Ravens in 2000, was the first time the game was broadcast in high definition. Few viewers saw it that way. In 1999, the second year that HDTVs were available in the U.S., only 0.2 percent of all televisions sold in the country were able to receive high-definition signals, according to the Consumer Electronics Association, a trade group.

This season, every National Football League game was broadcast in high definition. HD-enabled sets made up more than 73 percent of sales in 2007, the Arlington, Virginia-based association said.

``It's rare that someone on a whim is going to go out and buy a 52-inch TV; it's a big purchase,'' Best Buy's Lucas said. An event like the Super Bowl, and the prospect of having guests gather around the family TV, provide incentive, he said.

One fan not only had a new home theater installed in his Upper West Side home, he had the apartment painted blue, the Giants' official color, said Miguel Aguiler, a deputy field marshal with Best Buy's Geek Squad in Manhattan.

``He wanted to make sure he experienced the Super Bowl the right way,'' Aguiler said.

Mixed Motives

Retailers are encouraging upgrades by reminding consumers of the government-mandated switch to digital broadcasts next year. That may not spur sales as much as team loyalty and a discount.

``It's because of the Giants,'' said New York police officer Angel Lujan, 26, of the $1,300 he spent for a 50-inch Panasonic plasma HDTV from a P.C. Richard store in Manhattan's Union Square. ``But it doesn't hurt that it's on sale.''

To contact the reporter on this story: Chris Dolmetsch in New York at cdolmetsch@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: February 1, 2008 01:06 EST