Planning to travel to an NFL playoff game? Well, who you cheer for could make that tough.
No matter how far you're willing to drive, the Seattle Seahawks and Denver Broncos are limiting sales of tickets from their official websites to only their region — not letting their opponent's fans get their hands on them.
The Seahawks, who play the San Francisco 49ers, were only selling tickets to fans with a billing address in Washington, Oregon, Montana, Idaho, Alaska, Hawaii and the Canadian provinces of British Columbia and Alberta. (Via WBBH)
While the Broncos are doing the same — not allowing any New England Patriots fans close to tickets. They're only selling theirs in "Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming, Nebraska, Montana, South Dakota and Western Kansas." (Via WGGB)
Even with the ticket embargo in place, both teams sold out of tickets within minutes of them going on sale. (Via KUSA) (Via KOMO)
Now, tickets are still available for 49ers and Patriots fans on secondary markets like StubHub, ticket brokers, scalpers, but for mostly higher prices. Still, the ticket lockout got mixed reactions.
"I should have a problem with it, but I kind of don't. You don't want people coming ... here's the problem. The law of unintended consequences." ...
"So have your cousin's cousin's aunt's brother buy your tickets for you." (Via CBS)
"This isn't Seattle's property. It's the freaking NFC Championship game. All they are doing is driving people to ticket resellers and scalpers and thus making the NFL experience even more costly for real fans. Good work!" (Via ESPN)
And surprisingly, even 49ers head coach Jim Harbaugh is okay with it.
"I actually respect it. That you're trying to do (this) for your team, put them in the best possible position to win that you can." (Via KCPQ)
The Patriots and Broncos will play Sunday afternoon for the AFC Championship, while the 49ers and Seahawks will battle for the NFL Championship later that evening. The winners of those games will play in the Super bowl February 2nd.
