Broncos Tickets Devoured In Blitz

[RhymesayersDU]

http://www.denverpost.com/broncos/ci_3406614

Broncos tickets devoured in blitz
Avid fans pick up all the offered seats for the AFC championship game in about an hour, spending as much as $400 per ticket.
By Jim Kirksey
Denver Post Staff Writer

One man flew in from Honolulu and his sister flew in from Asheville, N.C., to be a part of it.

Another man brought his family, and his Pittsburgh Steelers allegiance, up from Albuquerque for it.

The Denver Broncos are in the AFC championship game Sunday against those Steelers, and about 2,000 rabid fans seeking tickets came to the south steps of Invesco Field at Mile High for a chance to buy one, or six.

Most went away empty- handed, as only 15,000 tickets went on sale at 4 p.m., and they were sold not only at Invesco but also online and at all Ticketmaster outlets. The roughly 61,000 remaining tickets go to season-ticket holders and the National Football League.

Those fans at Invesco, some apparently there as early as 6 a.m., were given little blue slips to take part in a lottery to determine their place in line.

The winning number, 625916, was held by unemployed 24-year-old Paul Davey, who stepped up to the ticket window and asked ticket seller Samantha Nokes for six of the cheapest tickets she had.

The prices of the tickets on sale Sunday were $73 to $135 for reserved tickets and $300 to $400 in the club level.

Davey said he'd been outside Invesco since 6 a.m. "I don't know what to say," he said. "I've never won anything before."

Ron Bueno was more demonstrative as he won a chance to step up to one of the dozen ticket windows, throwing his arms in the air and yelling, "You gotta believe!"

After he plopped down $700 for six tickets, Bueno grinned and said: "Don't tell my kids. They wanted new shoes, but we can't buy shoes now."

Jose Beltran and Joann Sanchez were up from Albuquerque for the playoff game against New England and stayed around for the chance to get tickets to the Steelers game.

Sporting a No. 7 jersey in black and gold with "Roethlisberger" across the back (for Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger), Beltran said he's been a Steelers fan all his life, but his children are Broncos fans.
"We promised them this for Christmas," he said.

They will return to Albuquerque and come back for Sunday's game.

Ryan Parker and his sister Paige Parker flew in for the Patriots game - he from Honolulu and she from Asheville - and stayed an extra day for the chance to get tickets for the AFC championship.

They got tickets, but the biggest part of their expense will be returning to work this week and flying back to Denver this weekend.

At 4:20 p.m., it was announced that only the expensive club-level tickets remained, and by 4:30 p.m., only scattered seating at that level was left. At 5 p.m., they starting closing the ticket windows.

Rick Nichols, vice president of ticket operations and business development for the Broncos, advised fans to watch Ticketmaster.com this week because some of Sunday's transactions probably wouldn't go through and some tickets could become available.

Staff writer Jim Kirksey can be reached at 303-820-1448 or jkirksey@denverpost.com.

[Crushaholic]

Originally Posted by RhymesayersDU

Rick Nichols, vice president of ticket operations and business development for the Broncos, advised fans to watch Ticketmaster.com this week because some of Sunday's transactions probably wouldn't go through and some tickets could become available.

That's a good point. It does say that those found guilty of circumventing ticket-buying rules will have their purchases voided...

[ludo21]

Going to be another insane night of football at Invesco!

Place will be rocking again!!

[broncoholic]

Originally Posted by Crushaholic

That's a good point. It does say that those found guilty of circumventing ticket-buying rules will have their purchases voided...

Not to mention the number of orders that will be dumped due to credit card limits. If anyone wants tickets to the game start checking Ticketmaster over and over for the next few days.

[Gort]

i think something very fishy happened with Broncos tickets. i was on Ticketmaster's website before tickets started going on sale. after submitting my request at 4:02PM and waiting 12 minutes, it came back and told me that there were $400 tickets available. they were great seats, but i wasn't interested in spending that much on tickets, so i declined them. then i started looking for anything under $200. there was nothing. nothing at all. however, one of the TV stations reported that tickets started going up on Ebay at the same time with sections and rows already specified (while Ticketmaster still had tickets for sale!). hundreds of tickets on Ebay actually. sounds to me like somebody got early access to the tickets and bought them up for scalpers. i don't know who grabbed up all the lower priced tickets, but it seems that the average fan didn't have much chance at getting any of them. if you waited at invesco, it was "luck of the draw". if you used Ticketmaster, you had to be extremely lucky too. sure, you could get the most expensive tickets if you were logged into the Ticketmaster website in the first 20 minutes of ticket sales, but how many people wanted those as their first choices?

my guess is that the whole "postseason ticket buying" system for those 15K tickets was rigged against the ordinary fan. did the same thing happen for the Divisional Round tickets?

i'm not going to the game, but i don't regret declining those $400 seats.

[Thunderstruck]

any word on no-shows Saturday night?

[Vegas_Bronco]

Originally Posted by WhoIsJohnGalt

i think something very fishy happened with Broncos tickets. i was on Ticketmaster's website before tickets started going on sale. after submitting my request at 4:02PM and waiting 12 minutes, it came back and told me that there were $400 tickets available. they were great seats, but i wasn't interested in spending that much on tickets, so i declined them. then i started looking for anything under $200. there was nothing. nothing at all. however, one of the TV stations reported that tickets started going up on Ebay at the same time with sections and rows already specified (while Ticketmaster still had tickets for sale!). hundreds of tickets on Ebay actually. sounds to me like somebody got early access to the tickets and bought them up for scalpers. i don't know who grabbed up all the lower priced tickets, but it seems that the average fan didn't have much chance at getting any of them. if you waited at invesco, it was "luck of the draw". if you used Ticketmaster, you had to be extremely lucky too. sure, you could get the most expensive tickets if you were logged into the Ticketmaster website in the first 20 minutes of ticket sales, but how many people wanted those as their first choices?

my guess is that the whole "postseason ticket buying" system for those 15K tickets was rigged against the ordinary fan. did the same thing happen for the Divisional Round tickets?

i'm not going to the game, but i don't regret declining those $400 seats.

AGREEEEEED, I bought 6 tix through my aunt who lives in Brighton, CO and she said they've emailed her and informed her that the purchase was 'declined'. She ran her credit card # (trust me she has no limit on that thing) to get the tickets b/c it was limited to those who lived in the Rocky Mountain Region. Even those who 'got' them are not 'getting' a thing. This was a load of ...!!! I found great seats on Ebay last week for half the price they are at now - you should have more faith in your Broncos!!!

[Vegas_Bronco]

Originally Posted by Thunderstruck

any word on no-shows Saturday night?

Yeah, 600+ no shows, what gives? I know the Patsies returned 225 tix at the last minute and we can attribute this 'strategy' for 1/3 of the total no shows, what about the other 400

[Gort]

Originally Posted by Vegas_Bronco

AGREEEEEED, I bought 6 tix through my aunt who lives in Brighton, CO and she said they've emailed her and informed her that the purchase was 'declined'. She ran her credit card # (trust me she has no limit on that thing) to get the tickets b/c it was limited to those who lived in the Rocky Mountain Region. Even those who 'got' them are not 'getting' a thing. This was a load of ...!!! I found great seats on Ebay last week for half the price they are at now - you should have more faith in your Broncos!!!

just a thought, but if she supplied an address that didn't match the billing address for the CC, most online transactions will end up declined. i have one CC that is listed at my home address and one that's listed at my PO box and i have a helluva time remembering which is which when i buy something online.

try to contest it if you can or at least find out why it was declined. you should have some recourse.

[Vegas_Bronco]

Originally Posted by WhoIsJohnGalt

just a thought, but if she supplied an address that didn't match the billing address for the CC, most online transactions will end up declined. i have one CC that is listed at my home address and one that's listed at my PO box and i have a helluva time remembering which is which when i buy something online.

try to contest it if you can or at least find out why it was declined. you should have some recourse.

Thanks for the advice, but yes, she has only one address and this was the reason for having her do it. She said that not all tickets SOLD were actually available because there was a 72 hour wait for the confirmation of the purchase. When her confirmation came through 1) it was less than 72 hr wait, and 2) gave no decent reason as to why the transaction was denied?? I called the ticket office late last night and I'm trying to get through today - you know, calling the President of the US to complain about my neighbor kind of thing.

I'm going to stay the course to find out what's up?! If any of you are questioning the price of tix - just DON'T. This is more than a game! It's something you WILL NOT WANT TO MISS!!!

[anthonypacino]

Originally Posted by Vegas_Bronco

AGREEEEEED, I bought 6 tix through my aunt who lives in Brighton, CO and she said they've emailed her and informed her that the purchase was 'declined'. She ran her credit card # (trust me she has no limit on that thing) to get the tickets b/c it was limited to those who lived in the Rocky Mountain Region. Even those who 'got' them are not 'getting' a thing. This was a load of ...!!! I found great seats on Ebay last week for half the price they are at now - you should have more faith in your Broncos!!!

Ticketmaster is screwed, I bought seats in July for the Raiders and Chiefs game this year, later on at the Bronco ticket office they informed me that my Chiefs ticket had been returned and I still held my Raiders one. Then 3 days before the Chiefs game the same Bronco ticket office called to tell me that my seats for the Chiefs game would be ready for pick-up at will call, I then told her what the previous person had said and I even saw that tickemaster returned my money into my bank account, she then "verified" that my KC ticket was gone and my Raiders one was good. So I have to buy a scalped seat paid 40 over face, not too bad but my original seat was closer and cheaper. A week before the Raider game I'm in Denver at the stadium and just for curiosity I decide to check on the status of my Raider seat. The Broncos office tells me my Raider seat is gone! I flipped out I never saw that they reversed the transaction, then I kept digging at them, found out that they had told me that they reversed the wrong seat, I left a KC ticket at the booth. I had family flying out for the Raider game from NC and now a week before the game I was out. I would not leave the office until they corrected the screw up, they kept telling me that I had no recourse. At last I got a supervisor to call ticketmaster explain things and either refund me for both seats or get me a seat for the Raider game. I got both. But the seat was originally supposed to be 101 row 6 now I was 516 row 30.

[anthonypacino]

Originally Posted by WhoIsJohnGalt

i think something very fishy happened with Broncos tickets. i was on Ticketmaster's website before tickets started going on sale. after submitting my request at 4:02PM and waiting 12 minutes, it came back and told me that there were $400 tickets available. they were great seats, but i wasn't interested in spending that much on tickets, so i declined them. then i started looking for anything under $200. there was nothing. nothing at all. however, one of the TV stations reported that tickets started going up on Ebay at the same time with sections and rows already specified (while Ticketmaster still had tickets for sale!). hundreds of tickets on Ebay actually. sounds to me like somebody got early access to the tickets and bought them up for scalpers. i don't know who grabbed up all the lower priced tickets, but it seems that the average fan didn't have much chance at getting any of them. if you waited at invesco, it was "luck of the draw". if you used Ticketmaster, you had to be extremely lucky too. sure, you could get the most expensive tickets if you were logged into the Ticketmaster website in the first 20 minutes of ticket sales, but how many people wanted those as their first choices?

my guess is that the whole "postseason ticket buying" system for those 15K tickets was rigged against the ordinary fan. did the same thing happen for the Divisional Round tickets?

i'm not going to the game, but i don't regret declining those $400 seats.

That was not the only place they had a "lottery line" all ticketmaster outlets (Foley's, Christy Sports, etc) did the same way I was using 3 computers and had someone in line at a outlet. The line at Foleys started 3 hours before they went on sale, he told me not even 1/4 of the people even made it to the ticket counter.

[Gort]

there will be a solution to this one day. tickets one day will only be available at face value at authorized sellers. each ticket will include customer specific information and will be custom printed. that way they cannot be resold or scalped. only the person who purchased the ticket can use it. if you buy a ticket and can't go, then you return the ticket to the authorized seller and it's destroyed. you are refunded and that seat becomes available for sale again, at the face value of the ticket.

[anthonypacino]

Originally Posted by WhoIsJohnGalt

there will be a solution to this one day. tickets one day will only be available at face value at authorized sellers. each ticket will include customer specific information and will be custom printed. that way they cannot be resold or scalped. only the person who purchased the ticket can use it. if you buy a ticket and can't go, then you return the ticket to the authorized seller and it's destroyed. you are refunded and that seat becomes available for sale again, at the face value of the ticket.

best idea I've heard in a long time!

[broncoholic]

Originally Posted by WhoIsJohnGalt

there will be a solution to this one day. tickets one day will only be available at face value at authorized sellers. each ticket will include customer specific information and will be custom printed. that way they cannot be resold or scalped. only the person who purchased the ticket can use it. if you buy a ticket and can't go, then you return the ticket to the authorized seller and it's destroyed. you are refunded and that seat becomes available for sale again, at the face value of the ticket.

But what about Season ticket holders? I have 3 tickets, and I don't know what buddies I'm bringing to what games at the beginning of the year.


I do know that this week I'm very popular.

[anthonypacino]

Originally Posted by broncoholic

But what about Season ticket holders? I have 3 tickets, and I don't know what buddies I'm bringing to what games at the beginning of the year.


I do know that this week I'm very popular.

you would have to enter with the original ticket holder or his ID just like will call works now.
ps. when you say you don't know who you will be taking, how about a fellow OManer, who is of Italian heritage and roots for the OSU Buckeyes, buddy!

[Beantown Bronco]

Originally Posted by Vegas_Bronco

Yeah, 600+ no shows, what gives? I know the Patsies returned 225 tix at the last minute and we can attribute this 'strategy' for 1/3 of the total no shows, what about the other 400

All of those 225 Pats tix were sold the day they were "re-released".

I'd say around 500 of the 600 or so no shows were the result of tickets that the brokers couldn't sell and had to "eat". I kept checking a few broker sites up until the day of the game and there were easily hundreds of tix still available at huge markups on stubhub and denverticketco alone.

[RhymesayersDU]

I would agree that something is fishy with ticketmaster.

In December when the Pats/Broncos tickets went on sale, I got on Ticketmaster.com right at 11 am, requested 2 tickets at best available, and got two tickets in the 500 section, which seemed normal, and which was what I expected.

Yesterday, I got on Ticketmaster.com right at 4 PM, requested 3 tickets at best available, and somehow got 3 tickets, section 131, row 12. Needless to say, I was not expecting anything lower level. I was expecting the nosebleeds again. I'm not crying, I purchased the tickets @ 115 each without a second thought... But with that said, something IS going on with Ticketmaster, it's very odd.

[horsepower]

what they do in uk, they give fans membership cards with 6-digit code number name and address, you use this card on ticketmaster the card only costs £1 which is $2 at a guess.

these cards are like your credit card with name and 6-digit code.

you can't buy tickets of ticketmaster,or ticket office without having the card.

seems to have worked and more of the real fans are getting tickets.