Jan. 24, 2022
Fans react during the fourth quarter between the Los Angeles Rams and the San Francisco 49ers at SoFi Stadium on Sunday, Jan. 9, 2022, in Inglewood, Calif.
Joe Scarnici/Getty Images
The notice on Ticketmaster that restricted NFC Championship Game tickets to those with Los Angeles-area ZIP codes had abruptly and unceremoniously disappeared from the ticketing site’s website by Monday morning.
Previously, a fan attempting to buy tickets would see a notice alerting them that “Public sales to the game at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, CA will be restricted to residents of the Greater Los Angeles region,” and, “Residency will be based on credit card billing address at checkout.”
As of 9 a.m. Monday, that notice has been removed, and the only notice that pops up now informs customers of COVID-19-related policies.
Ticketmaster did not respond to an SFGATE request for comment.
The Rams implemented the restriction because the regular season finale vs. the San Francisco 49ers saw so many Niners fans in the stands the home team had to go to a silent count on offense. It was such a problem that the wives of Matthew Stafford and Andrew Whitworth have begged Rams fans not to sell their tickets to opposing fans.
Rams head coach Sean McVay said he was surprised by the number of opposing fans at the game, and 49ers “wide back” Deebo Samuel said the Rams had to “pump noise” to make up for the lack of home fans there.
Samuel took to Twitter on Monday morning to criticize the Rams for their restrictive policy.
“I get that we turned sofi stadium to Levi’s but restricting fan from buying tickets is kraxy to me,” he wrote.
