GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) – Ticket sales ahead of the NFL season are a bit more complicated than usual, as it remains unclear what attendance will actually look like this fall.
The Green Bay Packers announced a 12,000 fan capacity this season – if the league allows fans at all due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Season ticket holders were asked to opt-in or opt-out of their tickets this year, with the stipulation that they will maintain their rights to those tickets in 2021 and beyond. Refunds will be provided.
However, the market for buying and selling tickets for games also becomes significantly tighter.
“Obviously we can’t sell any tickets because there are none available,”says Travis Loftus of Ticket King, “We’re always trying to find a way to get ahead of all this. Reaching out to season ticket holders and try to have the opportunity to get tickets if we can down the road. If there’s going to be tickets available, we’ll definitely be participating by buying and selling.”
Ticket King has to refund tickets that were previously sold, as they all have become null and void due to the change in attendance policies.
But Loftus is excited to see sports back at all, and says even a return to televised sports is a good sign after several months off. He thinks that can be an indicator that eventually, sports will return for in-person viewing.
“It’s a different story trying to get fans in the stands with everything going on and reduced capacities,” Loftus tells WTAQ News, “Baseball is going to try to have fans at some point, so that will be a good barometer of what the NFL might follow. The NBA is just in their little bubble with no fans.”
As for the impact of cutting the weekly attendance from 80,000 to 12,000 – that means less tickets available for regular sellers, and an interesting exchange system for services like Ticket King.
“Not 100 percent sure about how it’s going to play out, but I think tickets are going to be worth a lot more because of the limited capacity and the number of seats available,” Loftus says, “If you can get your hands on tickets, they’re going to be worth gold at this point. To me, there’s enough crazy Packers fans that are willing to sit through anything.”
Despite the lower numbers and difficult season for swapping tickets, Loftus thinks there is a bit of a silver lining – as fans who do end up attending games will have stories to tell forever.
“It would definitely be a unique experience if they do have fans, to say you were at a game in 2020. I mean, not many people are going to be able to say they had a chance to go to a game,” Loftus explains, “It might even be kind of nice, you’re going to be spread out through the stadium and have nobody around you. You won’t be so compacted on top of each other, you can have your own butt seat for a change.”
Lambeau Field remains the only NFL stadium with a majority of bench-style seating, which can often lead to fans getting cozier with their neighbors than they might like.
The NFL preseason has officially been canceled. The regular season is slated to kick off September 10th.
