Fans jostle to find tickets for Sunday

Wed., Jan. 18, 2006

By Hilary Kraus hilaryk@spokesman.com

On a quest to get into Qwest Field on Sunday?

Getting hold of tickets for the Seattle Seahawks vs. Carolina Panthers in the NFC Championship isn’t impossible, but you may have to go deep into your pockets.

Dave Pearson, Seahawks director of communication and broadcasting, said the 2,000 available tickets sold out in about five minutes after going on sale Monday morning. Qwest Field, which opened in 2002, has 67,000 permanent seats.

However, for those who want to be a part of history by attending the second championship game in the team’s 30 years in the NFL, there’s always eBay and other ticket markets. Surfing the Internet Tuesday night showed the following options:

There were more than 900 auctions on www.eBay.com, ranging in price from four seats on the 50-yard line beginning at $5,000 (one bid as of Tuesday night) to six club seats for an opening bid of $4,200 (no bids as of Tuesday night). An executive suite is also up for sale for $25,000, though no one wants to see the game that badly – yet.

A site that advertises itself as “the leader in hard-to-get tickets in sports, concert and theater tickets worldwide,” www.RazorGator.com, has tickets ranging in price from $91 to $8,600.

The least expensive ticket on www.ticketsnow.com is going for $175, but that’s for standing-room only. The ticket broker site also has a pair of seats in the $1,700 range. Other Web sites where hundreds of mostly pricey tickets are for sale are www.stubhub.com and www.eSeats.com.

Fans are seeking and selling tickets on www.craigslist.com.

“Those who are buying through a secondary market should do their homework,” Pearson said.

There’s also the chance of catching lightning in a bottle. ESPN radio (700-AM) in Spokane will have a drawing for a pair of tickets at approximately 4:55 p.m. on Thursday on “The Dennis Patchin Show.”

Listeners can register by being the 10th caller (when announced); through the show’s trivia contests; or by e-mailing their information to dpshow@kxyl.com.

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Fans jostle to find tickets for Sunday

Jesse Tinsley

Jim Meehan

Molly Quinn

Rob Curley

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