Seahawks tickets a rare commodity - and a pricey one

SEATTLE — If ticket sales are any indication, Seahawks fans will be out in force this season.

Single game tickets went on sale Monday morning, and already, the regular season is sold out.

KIRO 7's Amy Clancy has learned that while it’s good news for the team, it's also frustrating for fans.

Fans eager to get single-game seats can only buy them online, and with the Seahawks possible Super Bowl contenders this year, online ticket-seller TicketCity is seeing 20 percent more demand than this time last year.

“What’s happening with the Seahawks right now, they’re already sold out of a lot of seats. People are forced to go to the secondary market, so we see them coming to TicketCity, but we’re charging pretty much the same price as last year,” said Randy Cohen with TicketCity.com.

Single game tickets went on sale at 10 a.m. Monday, and fan Jack McMichael logged on minutes later.

“Already sold out within 10 minutes,” said McMichael.

Most face-value seats sold through NFL-preferred provider Ticketmaster sold very quickly, but there are still some available.

You can still get tickets through Ticket Exchange, the only authorized ticket resale site associated with the team.  But Ticket Exchange means buying from season ticketholders, but those seats can be very pricey.

Mike Ferguson is a season ticketholder who wouldn't even think of selling his seats for a profit.

“Here’s the fan perspective. It ticks me off because in my section,they’re a lot of people who do that, so we get a lot of the opposing fans in my section, which makes it fun sometimes, but I’d love to see more blue,” said Ferguson.

But McMichael doesn't like the Exchange, because it means sellers set the prices, which can skyrocket, like they already have.

“The resale tickets were 70 percent higher than the face value of those same seats, so what ended up being $110 tickets, I paid $220 for,” said McMichael.

Mitch Dillard says buying a ‘Hawks ticket is a luxury. He hasn't even tried to buy his tickets yet, but is already discouraged.

“Season ticketholders – great. But there are a lot of people who can’t afford that.  It would be a lot better if they could hold some aside for single ticketholders. I think they’d sell them all,” said Dillard.

Clancy wanted to ask the Seahawks about why more seats aren’t available for single games, but no one returned her calls.  They did provide the following information via email regarding Ticket Exchange:

• Fans seeking to purchase tickets are encouraged to use Ticket Exchange, the only authorized ticket resale site associated with the team.
• The team communicates regularly with season ticket holders about the value of their tickets and reiterates the need to maintain control.  If season ticket holders forward, reprint or sell their tickets, the originals become invalid.  Any fraudulent ticket activity could lead to permanent loss of ticket privileges.
• The Seahawks can only guarantee success if fans use the approved ticketing partners.

Meanwhile, Epic Seats, a local ticket company, said it’s seeing prices for some seats four times higher than last year.

KIRO