Feb 3, 2013; New Orleans, LA, General view of Super Bowl XLVII tickets outside the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
Listen here my friends. I’ve been reading all day long about people bashing the Seattle Seahawks for limiting ticket sales to just six states for the NFC Championship game against the San Francisco 49ers next Sunday in Seattle. Local media can’t stop talking about it. Personally, I hate that they do it and am always at the ready to take a job at the Seahawks, however, let’s not all act like Seattle came up with a novel idea here.
The Seahawks, if you’ve been living under a rock and haven’t heard yet, are limiting ticket sales to the NFC Championship game to just the states of Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Alaska, and Hawaii. The Denver Broncos are doing something similar. Have I mentioned the Arizona Cardinals have done similar in the past? It makes sense but it is unfair.
Did you know the Cardinals don’t necessarily restrict sales to residents of Arizona, however, in order to get marquee games, they hold you and your wallet hostage for other games you must buy. Did you want to see the Niners game against the Cards in week 17 this season? If you did and you bought the tickets directly from the team, you also were forced to buy a ticket for the game against the Carolina Panthers back on October 6th. Did you buy a ticket for the Seahawks game on Thursday night back in October? Well then you also bought a ticket to the Dallas Cowboys game in preseason. It’s all part of their annual “Protect the Nest” plan.
The point is, many teams have gimmicks to ensure only their fans get the best tickets at the lowest price. Yes, you can go on Stubhub, which I have done many times, however you pay fees and markups Ticketmaster wouldn’t. Yes Ticketmaster fees are ridiculous but they also charge face value. Again, not fair but it is a business that can be run anyway they want it.
The Cards in the past have installed “Protect the Nest” plans to keep other teams fans from buying tickets, namely Cowboys fans, of which there are thousands in the valley. I’m all for Cowboys fans being shut out of getting in but it should be done in a fair way. Yes it makes me angry when fans of the local teams don’t buy the tickets and the road teams come in here, not just in football, have get to play “home” games in Arizona.
Fact is this practice has gone one for awhile now, so let’s not all act like we are surprised. Seattle did it for one reason. Keep the Niners fans out. Oh and for the record, the Seahawks sold out in 10 minutes this morning, leaving even thousands of Seahawks fans high and dry.