DENVER, Colo. — Football fans all across the country know it feels different when playing at home, especially when it is the AFC Championship game. Now, the clock is ticking for Broncos Country to land one of those golden tickets inside Empower Field.
Broncos season ticket holder Nick Sandberg stopped by Empower Field on Wednesday morning to check out the team store and to "get the mojo of the stadium" before the big game. He knows tickets are selling for a pretty penny, but would not give them up for this experience.
"I got to be here to make some noise on Sunday, so we're going to get loud," said Sandberg. "We're going to get in the Patriots' heads."
However, for those who don't call Colorado home or who may be New England Patriots fans, there is a pop-up warning that comes up when checking out on Ticketmaster.
The notification says, "Due to limited availability, tickets will be sold only to those with a billing address in the Rocky Mountain region, including Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming, Nebraska, Montana, South Dakota, and Western Kansas."
Scripps News Denver's Maggy Wolanske reached out to Ticketmaster to understand why this message comes up.
She learned over email that "sometimes teams will place geographic restrictions on certain events to give local fans the best chance to attend" and to reach out to the team about specific details. We contacted the Denver Broncos and got the following response.
“As we’ve done for previous AFC Championship Games, the extremely limited amount of single-game tickets on sale for Sunday was restricted to the Rocky Mountain Region to prioritize Broncos fans," said Denver Broncos Chief Communications Officer Patrick Smyth. "With more than 98% of Broncos Season Ticket Members opting in for playoff tickets, the remaining inventory, consisting of only a few thousand tickets, was nearly sold out within 24 hours.”
April Schofield, senior marketing lecturer at Metropolitan State University of Denver, explained the strategy behind this move, sharing that it rewards the local fan base while combating ticket scalping.
"Absolutely, and not just protecting the home field advantage, but also protecting the local fans and reducing the ticket scalping that's going on, certainly not something that is exclusive to the Denver market," Schofield said.
Later in the day on Sunday, the NFC Championship will take place in Seattle with the Seahawks taking on the Rams. Schofield explained a similar tactic could be implemented for the 12s.
"I would expect the same exact thing to be happening in the Seattle market, and hopefully as our Nuggets and Avalanche go towards the playoffs, same thing happening there as well," Schofield said.
On social media, Facebook groups have flooded with reactions as New England fans try to score tickets to Empower Field and are frustrated by this restriction. While she may call Colorado home, Rochelle Wilson is part of Pats Nation and was shocked by this news.
"Yeah, I found that Ticketmaster is trying to restrict to Colorado and like the surrounding states, but there's Patriot fans everywhere, not just in New England, in the surrounding areas. Look at me, I'm here in Denver, and I still love 'em," Wilson said.
She told fellow fans she would be happy to give out her address, but said, "I just ask that maybe you buy me one too, so I can come with you."
Broncos Country has a simple message for Patriots fans: Earn the No. 1 seed, earn home-field advantage.
"I'm all for it. I'm all for it. We get home-field advantage. It's our stadium. It's our home field. We don't need the opposing team coming," said Sandberg. "I was at Super Bowl 48 in New York, and the Seahawks fans were absolutely atrocious. We don't need them coming here, so keep them on the East Coast."
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