Ticket Sales for Packers-Raiders in Winnipeg Seems to Be a Disaster and Fans Are Ripping it

The NFL has had plenty of success expanding the game outside of the United States. Matchups in Mexico City and London have been wildly successful in recent years.

But their latest endeavor north of the border? Not so much. Ticket sales for a preseason showdown between the Packers and Raiders in Winnipeg have been nothing short of disastrous, and the fans are letting the league hear it.

NFL kickoff in Winnipeg in 15 days is on pace to fill IG Field at 27 PERCENT CAPACITY.

The Oakland Raiders will battle the Green Bay Packers in front of just 8,944 fans.

Cheapest single tickets currently available: $191.50 including parking and applicable fees. Yikes. pic.twitter.com/KcyWdsPaYA
— Carter Brooks (@CBrooksie84) August 7, 2019

Part of the reason that only 27% of seats have been sold is due to the exorbitant pricing of the tickets. Seriously, who would want to drop nearly $200 to see a preseason game where none of the stars play?

$200 to watch Aaron Rodgers & Antonio Brown sit on a bench from the top of the stadium is kind of steep. No pun intended.
— David Harvey (@davidharvey74) August 7, 2019

The NFL also probably didn't account for the fact that Canada has its own football league, the CFL.

Fans would probably rather go root for teams and players they know in a regular season game at a much cheaper cost rather than pay gross amounts of money to watch teams that don't matter as much to them.

You can likely buy a single season ticket to the bombers for $191.50. NFL vastly underestimating how frugal WPG is. Especially since they’ll see very little of the starters
— Chad Welechenko (@Chadski81) August 7, 2019

Other fans pointed out that they've driven down to the United States to see regular season NFL games at half the price.

Vikings regular season game is $90. Cheaper to drive from Winnipeg and see a regular season game.
— Craig Maitland (@24_Maitland) August 7, 2019

The NFL has grossly overestimated how interested their target audience in Canada is and how much they'd be willing to pay for tickets. Charging nearly $200 for the cheapest ticket was a massive blunder.

Now they're just going to have to endure the embarrassment of having two of the most storied franchises in league history play in front of a minuscule crowd.