The Minnesota Vikings reportedly took a unique approach to get more of their supporters into Ford Field for Sunday night’s massive game against the Detroit Lions.
According to SI.com’s Albert Breer, the Vikings utilized the secondary market to purchase about 1,900 tickets for the road game as an organization. The tickets averaged about $1,000 apiece, bringing the total cost to nearly $2 million.
The Vikings reportedly then sent an email to season-ticket holders, offering them the opportunity to buy the tickets for far less than the organization paid for them, including some for as low as $200 per ticket.
Sunday’s game in Detroit will feature a clash between two 14-2 teams with the winner both securing the NFC North title and earning the No. 1 seed in the NFC, complete with a first-round playoff bye.
The Vikings made the tickets available on a first-come, first-serve basis, and the email to season-ticket holders read: “As a valued season ticket member, we want to offer you the opportunity to purchase lower-level seats for Sunday night’s game. They added that the tickets were “intended to be used by Vikings fans and not positioned for resale.”
Vikings team spokesman Jeff Anderson released a statement on the move, writing: “Given the uniqueness of this game, we wanted to offer our stakeholders—staff, family, season ticket members and team partners—an opportunity to attend.”
Many of the tickets purchased by the Vikings are reportedly located behind the visiting team’s bench, meaning fans and family members of those with the team who purchased the seats will be close to the action.
Per Breer, the Lions noticed “unusual activity” on the resale market and later became aware of the email the Vikings sent to their fans, leading the Lions to contact the NFL league office.
The league reportedly responded by informing the Lions that the Vikings did not break any rules.
Sunday will mark the first time in NFL history that two teams with 13 or more wins in a season will face each other.
The Lions being 14-2 isn’t particularly surprising given that they reached the NFC Championship Game last season and entered the 2024 campaign as one of the top choices to reach the Super Bowl.
However, the Vikings were widely picked to finish last in the NFC North and to be among the worst teams in the league.
That hasn’t been the case, though, thanks to a stingy defense and an offense stacked with playmakers such as wide receivers Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison, running back Aaron Jones and tight end T.J. Hockenson.
Minnesota has also gotten the most out of free-agent signing Sam Darnold at quarterback. Once considered a draft bust, the 2018 No. 3 overall pick has set career bests in passing yardage (4,153), passing touchdowns (35) and completion percentage (68.1 percent) this season.
In addition to winning the division and earning a first-round playoff bye, the winning team on Sunday night will have home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.
The losing team will drop to the No. 5 seed and have to go on the road for an NFC Wild Card Round playoff game, so there is plenty of incentive to prevail.
If the loser of Sunday’s game wins their first playoff game, a rematch between the Vikings and Lions would be on tap for the NFC Divisional Round should the Nos. 2 and 3 seeds win their NFC Wild Card Round games.