Interviews & Articles
Millsport's senior sports business executives are available for interviews, commentary, and analysis on a number of sports marketing and sponsorship topics. To arrange an interview, please contact Chris Anderson at (214) 259-3290.
Ticket sales slow for Chargers-Titans game
Jan 4, 2008
Chargers face local blackout if fair-weather fans no-showsBy Keith Darcé
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
The San Diego Chargers face a local TV blackout for Sunday's playoff game unless the home team sells its remaining 350 tickets by 1:30 p.m. today – a task made tricky by a winter storm predicted for game time and the thousands of tickets for resale on the Internet.
The National Football League granted the Chargers a 24-hour extension to reach a Qualcomm Stadium sellout after the team failed to make yesterday's initial deadline. The last NFL playoff blackout was in January 2002.
As the chilly-and-rainy forecast has become more certain, Chargers season-ticket holders and ticket brokers flooded the resale market with tickets for the first-round game against the Tennessee Titans. Some sellers have dropped asking prices more than 50 percent below the face values of $100 to $135.
The sluggish demand reinforces Southern California's reputation for fair-weather fans.
“I've been to playoff games in the rain twice,” said Manny Rose II of North Park, who was selling three tickets online on Craigslist. “I would probably prefer to sit in front of the TV. I know that's sad since I'm a die-hard fan, but I see no shame with watching the game on TV.”
The National Weather Service has forecast rain and temperatures in the mid-to upper 50s for Sunday afternoon as the last of a series of weekend storms pushes through the region.
“Wear something waterproof,” weather service forecaster Philip Gonsalves advised. “It's going to be chilly, and it will be breezy too.”
StubHub, which runs the Chargers' official ticket resale site, listed more than 635 posts offering playoff tickets for sale yesterday.
Reseller TicketsNow had 3,121 tickets listed on its Web site late yesterday afternoon, spokeswoman Jennifer Swanson said. That was far more than for any of the other three NFL playoff games this weekend. The next-largest number was 920 tickets for the Washington Redskins-Seattle Seahawks game in Seattle.
The lowest listed price for a Chargers-Titans ticket was $49, down from $69 on Wednesday, Swanson said.
Stephen Bowdler bought several tickets for Sunday's playoff game from a window at Qualcomm Stadium yesterday. The last NFL playoff blackout was in 2002.
“It points again to what people have said for years about fans in Southern California,” said Darin David of Millsport, a Dallas sports consulting firm that studies sports teams. “It's a fairly fickle fan base.”
Losses could climb into the thousands of dollars for some brokers who end up reselling tickets for less than what they paid, said John Nelson, manager of Spectator Tickets in San Diego. “We've been lowering prices two to three times a day,” he said.
Spectator still had about 200 tickets to sell for Sunday's game, and the broker won't be adding to its stock.
“It's like the Titanic,” Nelson said. “How many people do you want to put on the boat if you know it's going to sink?”
Other factors also could be holding down demand. Some speculated that fans are still stinging from the Chargers' disappointing postseason loss last year at home against the New England Patriots – the third consecutive playoff defeat dating to 1995 – or that fans might not realize that tickets are available to the general public.
“We've sold out for 29 straight games,” said Jim Steeg, chief operating officer of the Chargers. “I think a lot of fans thought we were automatically sold out for this one.”
Fans of the Nashville, Tenn.-based Titans aren't buying game tickets either. Only 7 percent of the tickets sold through TicketsNow were bought by people in Tennessee, Swanson said, while California buyers accounted for about 80 percent.
“The Titans come from a small market,” said David of Millsport. “They were a transplant team. They don't have a huge national following like a Cleveland or a Pittsburgh or a Green Bay.”
Chargers officials remained optimistic that fans will fill most, if not all, of Qualcomm's 70,000 seats Sunday.
“I brought home a little elastic baggie to put over my head,” said Rose, the Chargers fan. “I'm kind of gearing up to put my (rain) gear together. My heart is a little bit torn, because I want to go.”
