Titans hope to block Bengals fans Saturday
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Nissan Stadium. Photo: John Amis/AP
Before the Titans and Bengals clash at Nissan Stadium tomorrow, their fans are waging a battle on the secondary ticket market — a game within the game that will determine the extent of Tennessee's home-field advantage.
- Tickets to Titans-Bengals on secondary ticket websites yesterday were the most expensive of this weekend's four divisional round playoff games, indicating that Cincinnati fans are willing to pony up to see their team.
- The Titans are actively trying to tamp down Bengals fans invading Nashville and polluting Nissan Stadium with choruses of "Who Dey?"
Why it matters: The Titans scratched and clawed their way to a first-round bye and home-field advantage. Now the team needs a raucous environment reminiscent of their original Super Bowl run two decades ago.
- Unsettling young Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow is especially vital.
Music City madness: Because Nashville is a fun place to visit for a weekend, road fans have historically been drawn to games like flies to the neon signs on Lower Broadway.
- Bears fans once did their part to drain downtown of all its beer — there was literally no domestic beer to be sold.
The intrigue: Nashville Convention and Visitors Corp. president and CEO Butch Spyridon tells Axios there is a fine line for tourism execs to walk between using Titans games to boost visitor spending and making sure the team maintains its home-field advantage.
- "The sweet spot is between 2,000 and 5,000 fans," Spyridon says.
State of play: The Titans are doing their part. The Nashville Post reported the organization blocked tickets purchased directly from the team or through the official NFL resale site from being transferred until 24 hours before kickoff.
- The transfer freeze does not apply to secondary sites such as StubHub.
By the numbers: TickPick tweeted that the 3:30pm Titans-Bengals game had the most expensive get-in seat at $289, compared to just $122 for the Chiefs-Bills game.
- The cheapest ticket on StubHub yesterday afternoon was $255.
What he's saying: "We're a bit of a victim of our own success," Spyridon says. "People want to come back here in a way that they may not want to visit Pittsburgh, or Kansas City, or some other city multiple times."
- "My guess is we'll see 5,000 to 10,000 (Bengals fans) on Saturday, so there will still be a home-field advantage. And hopefully, we send them home happy with their visit but unhappy with how the game went."