The San Francisco 49ers recently beat the Carolina Panthers to advance to the NFC title championship against the Seattle Sea hawks. If the 49ers beat the Sea hawks this coming Sunday, they’ll play in the Super Bowl on Feb 2. But before they get a chance to compete in the Super Bowl, they’ll have to face a bigger fraction of opposing fans than usual.
The Seattle Seahawks made it impossible for people with California billing address on their credit card to purchase tickets online. Fans from Washington and states surrounding it like, Oregon, Montana, Idaho, Alaska, Hawaii, and parts of Canada are the only states allowed to buy tickets, in an attempt to keep the tickets in the hands of local fans, according to The Seattle Times.
The only way Californians can get a ticket is if they use someone else’s credit card with one of those states’ zip codes, or go through the secondary website where fans can resell their tickets, like NFL Ticket Exchange and Stubhub. According to The Seattle Times, right after the 49er’s beat the Panthers, the cheapest nosebleed seat on Stubhub.com for the 49er’s / Sea hawks game went on sale for $461.50.
But Seattle doesn't seem to be the only team excluding opponent states from games. KTVU reported that the Denver Broncos are also putting restrictions on their ticket sales for this week’s AFC Championship game against the New England Patriots. The tickets are only available for fans with a billing address in nearby states.
So for all you away fans who thought you were just going to get a hold of some tickets and support your team, it’s not going to be as easy as you thought.