Vikings DE Jared Allen BEGS fans to buy playoff tickets

That clip never gets old.

 

I don't get this line of thinking. Why should the people in Arizona be ashamed for not buying playoff tickets? Especially because this is a historically lame team with no fanbase who happened to be lucky enough to be in the worst division in football? Also, Arizona is getting absolutely creamed by foreclosures, so it's not like a lot of people have a lot of extra cash lying around.

Same with Minnesota, really. If people choose not to spend their money on the local pro team, that's their business. Especially in the case of a team that has tried for years to extort a new stadium with the threat of leaving town. In this economy, all the arrogant crap owners have pulled is coming back to bite them. In this economy, not selling out is the team's and the league's problem, not the fans' problem.

 

Unfortunately, it becomes the fans' problem when the game is blacked out on TV.

 

Bob, the Arizona line was a tongue-in-cheek, blue fonter.

But, I will say that while the economic situation is bad for a lot of folks, there's still more than enough money out there to sell out an NFL playoff game.

 

I don't understand why anybody would pay $50-$75 per ticket to sit in the upper reaches of a stadium, where the game is only a rumor. Add in price of parking, the hassle of getting there, etc. I have better ways to spend my money.

 

He's right about Arizona not having a fanbase. When we tried to buy tickets through the team for Buffalo's game out there, we were told that times had changed since we took over Sun Devil Stadium on the last trip, and the game was already sold out ... but somehow, roughly 20,000 of us managed to find seats anyway.

Minnesota, though? That one's a surprise, even with the two-headed monster of Jackson/Frerotte at QB. Hell, I'd pay to watch Peterson and the defense.

Wildcard games have always been a bitch to sell, especially with New Year's Day right in the middle of the week. Remember the Bills-Oilers "Comeback" game? Blacked out, and 5k short of capacity. (Of course, that was still 75,000, 10k larger than either of these two stadiums ...)

 

I don't know what the Cards' increase was for wild-card tix. If it was minimal, as it was in Miami, the first portion of your post above, I strenuously argue with. The last sentence above, I do not.

 

45 percent of Vikings season ticket holders have declined to purchase playoff tickets.

 

At some point, sports leagues are going to get hit very hard by people's inability to afford their bloated prices. The economy is totally in the shitter. Let's see, pay for food for two months, or go see the Vikes for three hours? Hmmm ...

 

in the good old days some local company or companies would step in buy a large block and be the hero. No one has that money anymore. 1/3 to 1/2 the wealth of the country was wiped out a few months ago. If you asked the companies that have sponsorship agreements with NFL teams whether they want the banners in the stadiums with their logos or the money, they'd take the money and run out of the office.

 

Cardinals just sold out.

 

One thing Mpls-SP and Phoenix have in common is being relatively small markets for supporting four major-league teams. I believe only Denver is smaller. And the NFL playoffs are coming as three of those four are playing.