[Bluehorseshoe]

Fearing 49ers Fans, Seahawks Ban NFC Championship Ticket Sales To Californians


SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) — Assuming the 49ers win on Sunday, fans wanting to cheer on the Niners in the January 19th NFC Championship Game in Seattle will not be able to buy tickets through the Seahawks, as the team is restricting sales to only zip codes in Washington, Oregon, Montana, Idaho, Alaska, Hawaii, and parts of Canada.

Tickets go on sale Monday, and California residents can still purchase tickets through the secondary ticket market like NFL Ticket Exchange, Stub Hub and others, or with a friend who has a *********** billed to an address in the Pacific Northwest.

Banning California (and Carolina) addresses from purchasing tickets to CenturyLink Field protects the team’s “12th Man” advantage, but also creates a bit of an image problem for the team, suggesting they can’t survive on skill alone, according to 49er faithful.

“I’m sure they’re not concerned about the appearance, but it still looks kind of weak,” writes NinersNation.com.

The Seahawks ticket page offers no explanation of the ban, just simply stating, “Tickets will be available to fans with a billing address in WA, OR, MT, ID, AK, HI and the Canadian provinces of British Columbia and Alberta.”

[lakerboy]

Good. Its called home field advantage

[warbux]

lol scumbags

[frostno98]

Ebay will always have tickets for sale.

[Bluehorseshoe]

I can't see that being legal.

[Dr. Gambler]

I can't see that being legal.

Was thinking same

[crustyme]

Good. Its called home field advantage

like it's gonna matter, moron....

http://tinyurl.com/kzukdc3

[8ArIvd5]

They should just bump up the price. We'll get the tickets either way and they're losing either way. May as well make a buck.

[Mike Huntertz]

It is illegal esp. if a black gay female handicapped Californian complains.

[innovation]

It's just a money ploy.....another middle man with no rules


if Niners beat them......They get last laugh

[lunch]

I thought seattle had like 80% season ticket holders?

[Luckycharms2012]

penetrate the 49'ers. I hope Seahawks stomp them out.

[C-Gold]

It is illegal.

Yeah I want to see a Gay black Jewish Lesbian from California try and buy tix and sue the Sea Cocks

[Kaabee]

they are being denied service because they are from california. they are not being denied service for being gay/disabled/whatever.

[Kaabee]

bye the way this is nothing new, happens all the time, not just the seahawks. denver had this against san diego.

[kevin101]

Scietist said the fans caused an earth quake when they beat the saints.

Heard it on tv watching sports centre.

[dontknowtohedge]

Who is betting against Kaep, right now?

They could sick junk yard dogs on him at the line of scrimmage, he will still easily throw 1st downs and run for 20 yds at a time. You can't stop him. Cam looked like a bitch today because great D doesn't do it all for you if you can't play a lick of offense.

[Big Bear]

Good. Its called home field advantage

Seahawks are a 1st class organization.

special shout out to vymomguy and tatddy good call on the 49ers play yesterday i would have been on them too b/c i like you guys but i was blinded by my fanhood

been a panther fan my whole life.

[tatddy]

Had my girls moms oregon address. Didn't matter. Was on TM at 10am on the dot and no tickets were available.

Prob just had a handful of singles for sale.

[strictlypaypal]

Had my girls moms oregon address. Didn't matter. Was on TM at 10am on the dot and no tickets were available.

Prob just had a handful of singles for sale.

Where do you plan on sitting tatddy? Just booked my flight, checking stubhub and ebay right now.. shits gonna be crazy

[bobby heenan]

heres what a local new england blogger had to say about denver doing it....it made me lol

"I suppose I should hate the Broncos for this, but I don’t. As a matter of fact, I totally sympathize. It’s exactly the kind of bitch move you should expect from a franchise that hasn’t won a thing since the 90s. When you’re a deadass, loser team that hasn’t been relevant since the day you had to take Terrell Davis out back behind the barn and put him out of his misery, a thing like a Conference Championship Game can be intimidating and scary. Especially when you’re facing a club who’s guaranteed to make it to the AFCCG before they’ve even done the conditioning run in Training Camp. So I 100% get it. You don’t want a bunch of Massholes coming in, veterans of eight of these games just since 2001, acting like they’ve been there before and intimidating everyone. This is no different than some shitty nerd frat not wanting any of the cool, good looking popular guys to crash their crappy party because they’ll make you look worse by comparison and score all the decent coeds. So I have no problem whatsoever with this. I’d expect nothing less from a city that doesn’t know how to win."

[Ghenghis Kahn]

i'm in california and this guy i know from seattle wanted to sell me couple tickets in the 300 level for $500 each.

face value of the ticket is $150. so if you spend little extra, you can still get them...

[yisman]

I can't see that being legal.

teams routinely do this in the playoffs. It is legal.

there are still going to be 49ers fans there. This is just to make it a little more difficult.

[mcaulay777]

I know im in the minority on this one but This is a great idea. I wish more teams would do this its seems now people that support the other team in the other stadium are getting more obnoxious now all the time an are deliberately trying to start trouble.30 Years ago you never saw anybody from the opposing teams maybe 1 or 2 but today they are all over he place.Last night at the kings Red Wings game there were more Wing jerseys than King Jerseys.I hate opposing fans from other teams they all should be banned.

[TwoWays]

watch it at home...no rain, no wind, no obscured views, no obnoxious fans, etc.

[Bluehorseshoe]

RENO, Nev. -- John E. Williams III has been a San Francisco 49ers fan since John Brodie was throwing touchdown passes at Candlestick Park in the 1970s. So he was excited about the prospects of scoring a ticket to make the trip to Seattle in January to watch the rivals battle in the NFC Championship Game.

But the Las Vegas man says in a $50 million lawsuit against the NFL that his hopes were dashed by the league and others he accuses of engaging in "economic discrimination" with an illegal ticket policy limiting credit-card sales to selected pro-Seattle markets. His lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Las Vegas says it was part of an effort to keep 49ers fans away and further promote the Seattle Seahawks' boisterous home-field advantage at CenturyLink Field.



"They're always boasting up there about their 12th player and everything else," Williams told The Associated Press on Friday. "But by allowing the NFL to decide who can or cannot attend the games, you make it an unfair game. Seattle fixed it."

Williams, who works as a promoter in the entertainment industry, said that because the NFL relies heavily on public subsidies and money from taxpayers to build stadiums it should not be allowed to deny ticket sales to individuals on the basis they are "not from an area determined by the team -- or the NFL -- to be fan of that team."

"The practice of withholding the sale of tickets from the public at large and allowing only *********** holders limited to certain areas is a violation of the Federal Consumer Fraud Act and/or common law," according to the lawsuit filed April 15.

In the case of January's game, the Seahawks limited ticket sales only to ************ with addresses in the states of Washington, Oregon, Montana, Idaho, Alaska and Hawaii, as well as the Canadian provinces of British Columbia and Alberta.

As a result, he said, he suffered "economic discrimination and violation of public accommodation solely" because his *********** was not issued in the restrictive states or Canada -- "which is not even part of the United States."

"This selected process is contrary to the spirit of the NFL and contrary to public accommodation," said Williams, who is seeking $10 million in punitive damages on top of $40 million in real damages.

Brian McCarthy, the NFL's vice president of communications, said the league has no comment on the lawsuit.

Officials for California-based Ticketmaster, which is now part of Live Nation Entertainment Inc., and the Seahawks did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Williams said he had made up his mind that if San Francisco beat the Carolina Panthers in a semifinal game, he was going to buy tickets to the NFC title game in Seattle for himself, his roommate, a girlfriend who lives in Canada and her daughter.

San Francisco beat Carolina 23-10, then lost at Seattle 23-17.

"I live in Las Vegas, but I'm originally from San Francisco. I've seen John Brodie back in the day, and Joe Montana. I really wanted to go up there to see the Niners," Williams said. "I think the tickets should be sold on a first-come, first-served basis, not based on who they want in the crowd."

[SEAHAWKHARRY]

Waaaaa...waaaaaa.waaaa..get over it ..bull crap lawsuit no merit ..waste of our judicial system

[geebert74]

Im a Broncos fan living in Massachusetts. If I wanted to fly out to Denver to see the AFC Championship game against the Patriots, I would not have been able to do so because Denver had a similar rule. Does it suck? Of course it does. But that's what I get for being a Broncos fan living in Massachusetts. Im over it.