Published: Jan. 3, 2014
Packers playoff game cold sore for fans
By NICHOLAS DETTMANN
Daily News Sports Editor
A change in the Green Bay Packers ticket policy regarding
playoff games this season has fans stuck in the cold.
That’s not counting the expected frigid temperatures when
the Packers kick-off their NFC wild-card playoff game Sunday against the San
Francisco 49ers in Green Bay.
“The Packers really screwed up with some of the things they
were doing,” said Jared Uhan, a sports account manager at Journal Broadcasting
Group and brother of former West Bend West girls volleyball coach Alex Uhan.
“They should’ve never put themselves in this position,”
Jared Uhan added. “I think they took advantage of the season ticket holders.”
The Packers’ game is in danger of being blacked out in the
Milwaukee and Green Bay television markets, including Washington County, if the
game is not sold out, which hasn’t happened at Lambeau Field since a 1983
playoff game against the St. Louis Cardinals.
The team has until 4 p.m. today to sell out the game or the
game will be blacked out to local viewers. The deadline was 3:40 p.m. Thursday
before the NFL granted the Packers an extension in attempt to sell out the
game.
“I really don’t know,” Joe Baumann of West Bend said when
asked why he thinks the Packers are having troubles selling tickets.
“This whole holiday season seems odd with the holidays
(Christmas and New Years days) being on a Wednesday.”
In previous seasons, season ticket holders got first crack
at playoff tickets, putting in a deposit for playoff tickets. Uhan said he had
to put down a deposit of about $1,500. And if the Packers didn’t make the
playoffs? The money was refunded.
That changed this year.
Instead, it would be applied to the season-ticket holder’s
account for the 2014 season.
“It’s like taking your money a full year in advance,” Uhan
said.
Uhan received the invoice about the playoff tickets in
November. At that time, the Packers were reeling. Former MVP quarterback Aaron
Rodgers was out with a broken collarbone and the team was mired in an 0-4-1
slump, capped by a 40-10 loss to the Detroit Lions on Thanksgiving.
Fans didn’t think it was worth the gamble. So they decided
to spend that money on presents for the holidays.
“It was kind of a long shot three weeks ago,” Baumann said.
It all changed Sunday when Rodgers completed a touchdown
pass to Randall Cobb in the final minute against the Chicago Bears to send the
Packers to a division championship and the playoffs.
It all got interesting in the hours after the game, Uhan
said.
He paid $1,500 for the highest possible scenario, which was
a home game in the divisional round and the conference championship. The face
value for Uhan’s tickets for those games are $152 and $230 per ticket,
respectively, which is an increase of about 30 percent from the regular season
prices. He was given four tickets for each game.
This year, the Packers will host the wild-card game ($125
face value) and possibly the conference championship. If the Packers don’t host
a second playoff game, the money spent on the conference championship game
would be a credit for next season’s account.
There is more to this saga.
When the tickets went on sale to season ticket holders at 9
a.m. Monday and to the general public at 3 p.m., four tickets was the maximum.
There was a catch.
Fans weren’t going to be allowed to print tickets off at
home. They were only going to be available at will call, with a photo ID and
the credit card used for the purchase. Uhan said he tried reaching a ticket
office representative for two hours because the phone lines were busy.
“The Packers tried to prevent people from reselling them,”
Uhan said, adding the Packers denied the issues saying it was a problem with
Ticketmaster.
That rule has since changed and so has the limit on tickets.
“This was the worst year they could do that,” Uhan said of
the Packers’ decision.
The cost and weather are the two biggest factors as to why
area Packers fans aren’t budging on playoff tickets.
“The cost of the tickets along with the travel, parking, food,
beverages is just too much right after Christmas,” West Bend’s Shari Prag said.
“I may be an odd one, but I don’t need to go further into debt for a live game.
I have too many other things that need to be taken care of with any money I
have available.”
“If the tickets were 25 dollars cheaper, the working class
could fit them into their budget,” Kewaskum’s Bob Schneider said. “After all
the dollars spent on the holidays, a weeks pay to take the family to the game
is a tough decision.”
No comments:
Post a Comment