Posted on 12/21/2005 1:21:27 PM PST by Diana in Wisconsin
(Demand for tickets down for Bears game Sunday...)
With the Green Bay Packers coming off a woeful loss to Baltimore and about to play their first-ever Christmas Day game at Lambeau Field, some fans and brokers report declining demand for tickets - even though Sunday's opponent is the archrival Chicago Bears.
Longtime season ticket-holder William Swetlik of Green Bay has two tickets for sale - at face value - for a Bears game he hates to miss.
"Christmas Day is for Christ, not for football, and for my family," he said. "I want to be home with the kids. We have grandchildren coming from out of town. I want to visit with them for the day. That is the most important thing."
"I can't imagine why they scheduled it that way," he said. "As far as I am concerned, I wouldn't go to any football game on Christmas Day."
The Packers (3-11) take on Chicago (10-4) at 4 p.m. Sunday in one of two NFL games being played on Christmas Day. The other features Minnesota at Baltimore, beginning at 7:30 p.m.
It's the first time in Packers history that the team has played on Christmas Day, said Mark Wagner, director of ticket operations.
Still, he expects a full house, more than 70,000 fans, to attend the game.
"We are preparing for a normal Sunday game," Wagner said. "It would surprise me greatly if we did have a lot of no-shows, unless there was a snowstorm or something."
There were more complaints last year when the Packers played in Minnesota on Christmas Eve, Wagner said.
But there is evidence of reduced interest in Sunday's game, he said.
The Bears returned 75 tickets out of their allotment of 500, Wagner said. "We have been getting rid of the ones that we have gotten in here so that's a good sign. We have been selling them."
Josh Anderson, manager of Ticket King, a Green Bay ticket broker, said sales for Sunday's game were slow Tuesday and he wasn't surprised, especially with the disappointment of the Packers' 48-3 loss to Baltimore on Monday.
For many people, Christmas Day is for families, and that hurts demand for tickets, especially with the Packers hardly playing like an elite NFL team, he said.
"We definitely are getting a lot of people trying to sell tickets," Anderson said.
Last year, the Packers played the Bears at Lambeau in September. "It was the biggest game we had all year," said Anderson, who will spend Christmas Day on Sunday sharing dinner with his fiancee rather than attending the game.
Frank Hickey, owner of Fox River Tickets of De Pere, said the fact the Bears-Packers game is on Christmas Day hurts sales "big time."
"I think the NFL should be ashamed of itself," he said. "I am buying tickets below face value and selling at about face value or above, depending on the quality of the tickets."
Hickey said he has bought $67 tickets for $40, and sales are off 50 percent compared with a normal rivalry game like the Bears.
He said some men calling about tickets ask about prices then say they will check with their wives but never call back.
"I knew it would be like this last April when the schedule came out," he said. "I don't know how you can put a game on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. There should be Christmas music on."
Calvary Lutheran Church is about a half-mile north of Lambeau Field. The pastor, the Rev. Gail Sowell, said the late afternoon game should cause no problems for her church. Her last Christmas Day service is at 10:30 a.m.
"I am not in favor of having football games on Christmas Day but at least logistically for us, it is not as bad as Christmas Eve," she said. "It is just the idea of playing football on the day of Jesus' birth. I think a lot of people are just offended by the principle of it."
"I was offered tickets and turned them down," Sowell said.
Swetlik, 55 and a season ticketholder since 1979, has two tickets in row eight of section 14 for sale for $59 each.
He expects to sell them. "But who knows. It is going to be Christmas Day," he said.
According to Anderson, there's one factor for Sunday's game that could spurred have more demand for the tickets and counter some of the emotion of Christmas Day football.
If quarterback Brett Favre had announced earlier that he was retiring, ticket prices would "go through the roof, sales would go through the roof; exactly what you would expect," the ticket broker said.
I don't think ticket-holders (selling their tickets to FIBs) are thinking this through.
It seems the Cubs fans have turned Miller Park into Wrigley North, so they are in the process of turning Lambeau into -- what the heck DO they call that ugly new -- stadium ?
(I have never said out loud that these people are losers who can't get tickets down in TrafficTown.)
(AND it's been a while since I've called that Twin Cities guy a "ViQUEEN" fan here at FR.)
(And, sadly, my nephew -- who has gone a long while without wearing The Paper Bag of Shame on his head at Packer games -- will have to get it out of the closet soon....)
FUN PACKER FACT:
We live somewhere between Madison and Milwaukee, so we can pick and choose which local reporters to watch for the local news. The Madison stations will have a lot of Badger news in their sports reporting. *yawn*
The Milwaukee news, on the other hand, OPENS the broadcast with Packer game recaps, interviews, etc. When it's time for the Milwaukee ticket-holders to use theirs, they have traffic reports about the highway from M'waukee to Green Bay. Of course, we have our weather and the weather where the TEAM is. Right after the news, we have a half hour on every channel that has its pundits giving recaps and predictions.
AND to all you out-of-staters: except for Madistan (mostly), the WHOLE STATE is rabid about the team. I see programs that say it's just the locals....
And we have out own "Secret Handshake." Anyone who can do an End Zone Yancey Thigpen Instant Replay is automatically IN -- no questions asked!
Playing on Christmas? Being one of the Christmas planners in the family, I can tell y'all it was a MUCH bigger problem in the Milwaukee area WHEN THE SCHEDULE CAME OUT. Then the season started....
Sorry to say I am old enough to remember that game. Ummm maybe I am glad to say I am not too old to remember it. One of the greatest ever played.
Anything to agitate a Packer backer.
Sorry, that honor belongs to the Packers this year.
The Cowboys play the panthers on Christmas Eve. I'm hoping for the best,but will load up on eggnog just in case.
Dinner should be over by that time, so I can just sit back, relax, and watch the massacre commence.
That's right. We can hold our chins up, stick out our chest, and shout proudly at the top of our lungs, "We suck!"
Merry Christmas to you and yours as well.
Ravens 30 Vikes 23
"Yeah, but it's easy to look great vs GB this year."
Looked great again this week and knocked the Vikes out of the playoff picture.
Thanks Diana in Wisconsin.
I’m rooting for the Bears anyway. :’) And that’s something that happens about once a decade.
That was a nice pass on 3rd and 9.
Followed by an impressive fumble recovery. ;’)
Bears are moving the ball!
The chatty announcers mentioned that, over 20 years, 39 meetings (excl tonight’s), the Packers have won 27 times, i.e., the Bears won 12.
In the same stretch, how many times have the Lions beat the Packers?
Dreamer. 14-3.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.