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NFL London: Fans furious as they find 160,000 people in queue ahead of them for tickets to Green Bay Packers vs New York Giants
NFL fans have been left furious after joining the online queue for tickets for games in London only to find that 160,000 people were ahead of them. Fans were told by the NFL that ticket sales would start at 9.30am today (Tuesday, July 26) and not to join before that point but thousands found themselves at the back of a massive queue despite following the rules.
They were looking for tickets to the London-based NFL game between the Green Bay Packers and New York Giants at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, but have been faced with huge issues. On top of the astronomical queue, the way Ticketmaster functions has also enraged some looking to go to the game.
Their frustration was added to because Ticketmaster only gives people 10 minutes to buy the tickets once they get to the front of the line – and if they can’t finish the purchase in that time they lose their place. Some claimed that tickets were likely to be being bought up by ticket touts who would then sell them on illegally for a healthy profit.
Angry punters took to Twitter to express their outrage at the system, which has seen many of them waiting for hours or missing out on the chance to watch the sport in the UK.
Giants fan Billy Blueshirt said: “Fans stay up all kinds of hours of the night to loyally follow teams that are hundreds and even thousands of miles away from us. And this is how the NFL repays us. By letting the scalps [ticket touts] get all the tickets for the London game. What an absolute joke.”
"NFL UK, you should be ashamed at how badly managed the ticket process has been for the NFL London games again this year. You say not to join the queue before 9.30 but there are 66,000 already in front of me. Why not just open the site at half 9? Jesus."
Ciaran Kenny said: “Ticketmaster UK how am I in the queue for NFL London tickets 40 minutes before the queue was even supposed to start and there are 100,000 [people] ahead of me?” Roy O’Brien joked: “[There were] only 111,000 in front of me when I joined the queue for NFL London game tickets.”
Another social media user, going by the name Cappo, added: “Why is the queue not getting shorter? [I’ve been] sitting here an hour and [there’s] still 28,000 in front of me.” Nick Jones said: “There are three things certain in life – death, taxes and the absolute shambles of trying to buy tickets for NFL games in London.”
The Packers versus Giants game, set for October 9, unsurprisingly quickly sold out with thousands of fans left disappointed. However at the time of writing there were tickets left for another London game between the Minnesota Vikings and New Orleans Saints. The Packers are one of the sport’s most famous and popular teams and have never played in London before, which might explain part of why that game has been so popular.
Original article published 26.07.2022 on the mylondon.news website.
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