Packers warn season ticket holders: Attend games or lose tickets
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Green Bay Packers season tickets holders who have not attended games might soon find themselves holding nothing.
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The Packers next week will send information to ticket holders on 2026 ticket prices and notify some fans that their tickets will not be renewed. A controversial process among at least those fans who are affected, it's an exercise the Packers have carried out for the last several years. It primarily includes fans who have not attended any home games for several years, the Packers say. The mailing also includes the policy on use of tickets.
"If you are a season ticket holder and your sole intent is to sell these tickets, you shouldn't be a season ticket holder. We want our fans to know homefield advantage is really important to us," Aaron Popkey, director of public affairs, said Feb. 23 at Lambeau Field. "We are extremely proud of that homefield advantage; the energy that Packers fans bring to game day. Our players [and] coaches talked about that over the years. That's something we certainly want to maintain, but also build upon."
The Packers won't say how many ticket accounts or total number of tickets were affected since they started the process, but did say they took about 1,000 people off the season ticket waiting list by issuing the reclaimed tickets. The Packers have about 38,000 season ticket-holder accounts and 155,000 people on the waiting list. About 99% of fans renew tickets annually, so getting off the waiting list can take decades.
The Packers do not treat Green and Gold ticket packages differently, although, with only two or three games per year, it is easier to miss all the Gold games than all the Green games.
Because tickets are digital, the Packers can tell when they are sold on secondary markets or when they are transferred after direct sales. They also can tell who the buyers are. They identify patterns of use and make decisions accordingly.
"Season ticket holders who repeatedly resell their season tickets, whether on the secondary market or through ticket brokers (directly or indirectly), may have their renewal ability impacted without further warning," the team said in a release.
The Packers prefer that season ticket holders sell tickets to family, friends, co-workers or other known Packers fans.
"[When] they aren't able to make those arrangements directly, the platforms such as [NFL] Ticket Exchange [Ticketmaster] are a convenient and safe way to do that, but in our minds that should be few and far between," Popkey said.
The Packers have reversed decisions on tickets, but Popkey did not say how many times. "We understand there are situations that come up," he said.
Fans who lost tickets share stories
Ticket holders who are not among those exceptions have shared their circumstances and their distress at losing tickets. The Packers will not discuss individual cases.
One former season ticket holder said he was in the U.S. Navy for 8½ years and unable to attend games. In an email, he said he submitted affidavits to the Packers explaining his situation, but was not renewed. He called the team's action a gross overreach and a witch hunt.
Another said his family held tickets dating to old City Stadium at Green Bay East High School and purchased stock in 1950 to keep the Packers in business. His grandparents grew too frail to attend games, but the intent was to transfer the tickets to a younger generation in the family.
"The opportunity to state our case to the Packers was still met with denial despite what we believe to be a legitimate reason for selling tickets in the approved NFL Ticket Exchange," he wrote. "The Packers do have the right to cancel season tickets of anyone at any time. However, doing it to an elderly couple with no malicious intent, and with next of kin eager to receive their tickets and fill seats with green and gold, may be worthy of a story."
A Gold package holder said he filed a 3½-page affidavit with the Packers stating his case, but still was not renewed. He said that in the last 10 years, 32% of Gold package games were on Sunday, Monday or Thursday nights, which are most difficult to attend for those making long drives, and only 26% were noon games on Sundays.
"Every year when the schedule came out, I checked with friends/business acquaintances to try to set something up," he said. "Aside from the fact that the assertion I had sold all my tickets in recent years is incorrect, and the Packers actively incented ticket holders to sell via the NFL Ticket Exchange, my main point is, I received no specific warning that my season tickets were subject to being confiscated if I sold them and I was given no opportunity to 'cure.' Trust me, I would have gladly taken the $700 hit [for a particular game] and still have my tickets. Is a heads up/warning not owed to a half-century patron?"
The Packers season ticket agreement says that tickets can be taken away or non-renewed at any time for any reason, or no reason.
The Packers' policy on ticket use is included with the mailing of invoices, Popkey said. Instructions on how to appeal a non-renewal decision are included with non-renewal letters.
One former ticket holder pointed out the irony in the Packers being thrilled when their fans fill opposing stadiums, but attempting to keep opposing fans out of Lambeau Field. Popkey acknowledged that Lambeau Field is a bucket list destination for opposing fans, but the Packers would like their numbers on game day be in the hundreds, not the thousands.
Contact Richard Ryman at [email protected]. Follow him on X at @RichRymanPG and on Instagram at @rrymanPG.
This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Packers warn season ticket holders: Use tickets or lose them