Rams Restrict Ticket Sales as NFL Conference Championships Set

The Los Angeles Rams are looking to boost their potential homefield advantage for the upcoming NFC Championships, restricting ticket sales to residents of greater Los Angeles in hopes of keeping out fans of their NFL playoffs opponent, the San Francisco 49ers.

“Public sales to the game at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, CA will be restricted to residents of the Greater Los Angeles region,” read the note indicating the restriction for those looking to purchase tickets at Ticketmaster. “Residency will be based on credit card billing address at checkout. Orders by residents outside of the Greater Los Angeles region will be canceled without notice and refunds given.”

The move marks a second straight week of NFL playoffs action where teams have weaponized the digital-only ticketing systems in hopes of controlling the crowd that comes to their stadium, after Tennessee restricted transfer of purchased tickets to a narrow pregame window. Fans have taken Los Angeles to task, promising to buy tickets through alternative marketplaces in response to the attempted shutdown of fans streaming in from their opponents city, just over 300 miles to the north.

Buy Sell and Go with confidence at StubHub

It appears the Rams are already afraid that the 49ers will again make SoFi Stadium their home — they’re trying to restrict ticket sales for a potential NFC title game by geography.

IMO pathetic and also premature — LA isn’t even in the title game yet pic.twitter.com/G8VmbG9muv

— David Lombardi (@LombardiHimself) January 23, 2022

Pathetic & desperate @Rams @SoFiStadium @Ticketmaster Are trying to block 49ers fans from attending the game next week. 49ers Faithful do your homework & purchase tix from other vendors like StubHub & Vivid seats or Seatgeek. Can’t stop the invasion can’t stop the Faithful. pic.twitter.com/ej1lZCQzfD

— 𝔉𝔯𝔞𝔫𝔠𝔦𝔰𝔠𝔬 𝔊𝔦𝔩 (@49ersfaithful86) January 23, 2022

It appears that the restriction only impacted tickets purchased through the primary market – resale tickets posted on Ticketmaster and elsewhere are seemingly not subject to any restriction.

The Rams got to the NFC Championship by winning a thriller over the defending Super Bowl champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the divisional round, 30-27. The team, which had built a 27-3 lead, nearly fumbled their chances away, as Tampa Bay surged with 24 unanswered points, tying the game with less than a minute left. But Matthew Stafford was able to connect with Cooper Kupp for two big gains on the last-second drive that followed, setting up a 30-yard game-winning field goal by Matt Gay. San Francisco also made its way to the NFC Championship via a last-second field goal, rallying past top-seed Green Bay Saturday 13-10 at Lambeau Field.

The AFC Championship game is heading to Arrowhead Stadium for the fourth straight year, after Kansas City captured a wild 42-36 win over Buffalo late Sunday. That game saw the Bills and Chiefs trade touchdowns in the fourth quarter, with KC tying the game with a field goal after Buffalo went ahead by three with just 13 seconds left in regulation, then winning it on the opening OT drive with a touchdown. They’ll take on the Bengals, who got by top-seed Tennessee with a last-second field goal of their own to earn their first spot in the league championship game since 1988.

Tickets for both league championship games are available through multiple ticket resale channels. As of monday morning, the get-in prices for both are surging. Tickets for the NFC Championship at SoFi Stadium start at $667 per seat at TicketClub.com, which charges no service fees for members. The AFC Championship game has a get-in of $481 at TicketClub. Current Super Bowl LVI tickets have a get-in of $6,178, kept very high by the fact that both of the NFC finalists are California-based, with the possibility of a home game at SoFi Stadium for the Rams if they can win Sunday.