Black and Gold South

Black and Gold South

HARVEY "MR STEELER" ARONSON

Got Tickets?

By HARVEY "MR STEELER" ARONSON

For Pittsburgh Steelers fans living in the Jacksonville area, it's always a treat when our team comes to town. But getting to the game is another issue. In 2004, my guesstimation of how many Steelers fans were in attendance at the then called Alltel Stadium was about 40,000 Terrible Towel waving Black and Gold fans. Purchasing a ticket from the Jaguars ticket office at that time was rather simple. The Jaguars weren't selling as many tickets and therefore permitted Steelers fans from all over to purchase tickets directly from them, yours truly one of those buyers. Move ahead two years to 2006, and it was an entirely different story. Using the same method to purchase tickets proved fruitless for Steelers Nation. The Jaguars used excuses of a low inventory and even a flier to their season ticket holders encouraging them to buy up the season tickets and posing the question, "Who would you rather sit next to?" The flier had a Steelers fan next to a Jaguars fan that had his young son next to him.

Let me make one thing clear, I can understand Jacksonville Jaguars fans not wanting Steelers fans or any other opponent's fans in their stadium. After all, those still living in Pittsburgh would 

probably prefer no Jaguars fans at Heinz Field either. But look at it in this perspective, in Pittsburgh it is IMPOSSIBLE to get a ticket from their ticket office because every last season ticket has been sold and is owned by a fan and it's been this way dating back to pre-1970. The only tickets available in Pittsburgh are the 1,000 that the Steelers make available each year on a first-come, first-serve basis. So a Jaguars fan could actually get on that list but it requires a written request to the Steelers front office. Those letters also place fans on the waiting list for season tickets which at this time is probably somewhere between a 10-20 year wait. In New York the waiting list for Giants season tickets is probably longer. Green Bay may hold the longest waiting time, something like 35 years.

Here in Jacksonville, the Jaguars have never completely sold out their season ticket capacity, and the last word I received was that they were at about 82% of renewals from those who purchased a season ticket last season. The capacity at Jacksonville Municipal Stadium is 76,867 but that is without the covered seats that owner Wayne Weaver had done in 2005 to cut down on blackouts that were taking place because of the failure to completely sell out games. Now the capacity with the covered seats is 67,164. I was told this year that there were only 3,000 tickets available for the Steelers/Jaguars game on October 5. The word from the Jaguars is that corporations get the first shot at tickets, then groups who purchased tickets last year the second shot, then other groups who have purchased tickets in the past the final turn at buying tickets. What that results in is pretty much a shutting out of Steelers fans.

Can Steelers fans blame the Jaguars for not wanting them at their game? Probably not. But I'm sure Wayne Weaver would rather make money off tickets rather than having large corporations trying to sell tickets to Jaguars fans only and holding out hope they will buy. This game has become such a rivalry and with the Jaguars dominating the series the last four games, it is highly likely that Jaguar fans whether diehard or not will want to be at this game.

Should Steelers fans be discouraged about the difficulty to purchase a ticket? I say emphatically no. What most may not realize about Steelers Nation is that for one, they travel better than any other fan base in the NFL. Secondly, Steelers fans will go to no end to buy a ticket for a game they really want to be at and will most times pay high prices to do so. Looking back to 2006 when the Jaguars did all they could to avoid a repeat of the 2004 game, their efforts were effective. Down from approximately 40,000 fans were probably more like 10-15,000 at that game in 2006 in which the Jaguars won 9-0. Regardless of their efforts this year, it should be expected that there will be at least another 10-15,000 Steelers fans streaming into Jacksonville the weekend of October 3 to attend the game and take part in the huge pep rally being planned by JAXB.A.G. (Jacksonville Black and Gold).

On a personal note, "Mr. Steeler" was born and raised in Pittsburgh having spent 24 years of his life there and then another 20 in New York City before settling here in Florida. He was named the recipient of the 2001 "Visa Hall of Fans Award," an honor that put him into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in the summer of 2002. He has appeared in an NFL Films documentary titled "Steelers Nation," and in a Sports Illustrated commercial on ESPN. He is also the Editor, Designer, and primary writer of a Steelers web site titled "Steelers Hotline" located on the Internet at www.steelershotline.com