It has been revealed that the Minnesota Vikings bought 1,900 tickets for nearly $2 million for their upcoming game against the Detroit Lions and offered them to Vikings season ticket holders at a much-reduced price.
The Vikings reportedly emailed season ticket holders, offering tickets for the game at Ford Field in Detroit for as low as $200 apiece. The team spent $1,000 per ticket on the secondary market.
Detroit officials were shocked by the tactic and complained to the league, but according to Sports Illustrated, the league says there are no rules against Minnesota’s ticket-buying scheme.
The large block of seats is situated behind the visiting team bench. Analysts say the effort could help the Vikings communicate during the game, not to mention put friendly fans (or no fans at all) in the seats behind them. Regardless, the ticket-buying plan necessarily prevents too many hostile Lions fans from sitting behind the Vikings.
“Minnesota’s intention, per sources, was first and foremost to give players’ and staffers’ families a better experience at one of the biggest regular-season games in team history,” Sports Illustrated explained.
“Given the uniqueness of this game, we wanted to offer our stakeholders—staff, family, season ticket members, and team partners—an opportunity to attend,” Vikings spokesman Jeff Anderson said.
Whatever the idea behind the plan, at least one ticket exchange has raised eyebrows.
One Lions fan sold a seat in the 1,900-seat block on the secondary market for $724. However, that buyer quickly sold the seat to Advantage Tickets, one of the brokers the Vikings are working with. The Vikings then sold that ticket to a Vikings season ticket holder for $300. However, that Vikings fan turned around and put it back on the open market with a $690 price tag attached.
The Lions feel this was all very untoward. And it certainly seems ripe for abuse.
One suspects that some sort of rule to control this kind of behavior will be in the near future.
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