Luck Of the Irish for Vikings Fans?
The NFL’s international games can be somewhat polarizing. A team loses a home game, and fans of the visiting team miss out on seeing them locally. Early morning start times and the loss of homefield advantage are also among the complaints.
The ticket sale process for the Vikings in Ireland was really somethin’ this week.
Most relish the games played abroad as their team is recognized on a larger scale, and they get to see fans from other countries enjoying their team in the same manner. I often think of those who live abroad or are stationed in Europe in the military as having a chance to see their favorite team or just NFL football live, which gives them a sense of being back home. It has become so common that the grumbling has died down, and some now see it as their ultimate reason to finally travel overseas.
Today, the virtual lines opened up for fans to purchase single-game tickets to the Steelers’ contest in Dublin against the Vikings, and there was a bit of a wait.
Honestly, I missed the release date of these tickets and had no idea it was today until I started seeing social media blow up. At one point, there were over 600,000 people in the queue waiting to get tickets to either see the teams they love or resell them at a marked-up price.
It’s sad to think there are people out there just doing that to take advantage of others. Oh well. It shows that the NFL was right to enter the European market years ago and make money across the pond. Pat McAfee even covered the long wait on his show Tuesday afternoon.
Were you one of the lucky ones to get tickets? When the line is a virtual one, it can be a bit dicey to know exactly where you are “in line.” My friend Jeremy got up early to try to get in on the overseas celebration,
“I got up at 2:45 am to hop in the queue for Vikings/Steelers tickets. I logged in and it said I was 19,xxx in line. I get redirected, the link breaks, I hop back in, and I get put 267,000 in line. For a stadium with 83,000 seats.”
He thought it would be sold out before he got back to him. Luckily, Jeremy was still able to get tickets! How many had this same experience after proving they’re “not a robot” by clicking on myriad pictures of “bikes,” “fire hydrants,” and “stop lights”?
Basically, the game sold out in an hour. Why is this good news for Minnesota? Europe, as a whole, has a large Viking fan base across all its countries. It makes sense because that’s where Vikings come from, and it’s easy to attach your fandom to something familiar.
There aren’t official numbers, and it may be impossible to determine which fans bought tickets, but I think there will be significantly more purple and gold in the stands compared to black and yellow. A friend of mine in Germany recently joined a German Minnesota Vikings fan club with her boyfriend, and she told me their chapter has over 1,000 members alone. She recently visited Minnesota to see her student exchange host family and then made her way to TCO to get the proper gear and have a full experience.
Past game footage further supports this, as every game the Vikings have played in London has been louder for the Purple People Eaters than their opposition. The Skol chant was deafening over the broadcasts.
I hope luck was on your side and that the Vikings’ luck of being undefeated in a foreign land continues in Dublin in September. There still appear to be ticket packages available through the Vikings and other travel sites if you want to get some before they hit the secondary market. That Pot O’ Gold at the end of the rainbow hopefully includes a win.
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