Tennessee Titans Change Ticket Transfer Rules to Limit Opposing Fans

The Tennessee Titans have reportedly changed their rules regarding ticket transfers, in hopes of limiting opposing fans heading to their stadium for their NFL Divisional Playoff contest against the Cincinnati Bengals this weekend. The change leverages the team’s digital-only ticketing system, which gives them the freedom to limit consumer rights to the tickets they’ve purchased and paid for at any time.

In this instance, the Titans are shutting down the ability of consumers who transfer tickets from their ticketing account to any other user until just before gametime. Tennessee, the AFC’s top overall seed in the playoffs, host Cincinnati at 4:30 p.m. on Saturday in one of the four games this weekend.

“We want Nissan Stadium to be two tone blue,” says Brooke Ellenberger, Vice President of ticketing for the Titans. “And so by limiting this transfer window, it also limits the number of visiting team fans that we’ll have in the stadium. By limiting that transfer time would limit some of the resale and some of that transfer activity that would happen in advance.”

TFL and ATBS for ticketing professionals

Tickets will not be able to be transferred until 24 hours before gametime, meaning tickets purchased between when the team shut down transfers and Friday afternoon would be stuck in the owners’ accounts until the team lifts the restriction.

This, the team hopes, will dissuade opposing fans from purchasing tickets listed on secondary markets, since they will not be able to be delivered until just prior to the game, leveraging fears that tickets may not be valid.

“I got the email, and it kind of freaked me out,” says Bengals fan Amber McIntyre, who purchased tickets to see her team on the road but then found out Tuesday that she wouldn’t be sent the tickets through the system until just before the game. “It sayd, You wont’ get it until 24 hours before. I’ve dealt with the scammers and stuff. I know it can be a little sketchy, I was concerned because of the price we paid for the tickets.”

Last weekend saw Cincinnati win its first playoff game in a generation, advancing to Saturday’s game against Tennessee. Excitement is high for the team’s fans, who seem enthusiastic despite the use of restrictive technology to try to scare them away from buying tickets on the secondary market.

“Honestly, I think this is going to kind of blow up in the Titans’ face,” says James Rapien, a publisher for Allbengals.com interviewed by WKRC in Cincinnati.. “I think they thought, and this is just my thousand-foot view, that it was going to get some nice local buzz and not get a reaction here. Maybe they didn’t think about the reaction it would get here, but it’s my most-read story today.”

Cincinnati-Tennessee opens the weekend’s action, with the Packers and 49ers also playing Saturday, followed by Sunday games between the Rams and defending champion Buccaneers and the Bills and Chiefs. The full schedule is below, as well as ticket links for various marketplaces.