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| totalpackers.com |
GREEN BAY — It may have taken 34 years, but Todd Mommaerts finally has his own seat to watch the Green Bay Packers play football at Lambeau Field.
A lifelong fan of the Packers, Mommaerts was 9 years old when his dad put his name on the season ticket waiting list in 1979.
"There were some years when I never thought the day would come," he said shortly before the Packers' 22-9 win over the Detroit Lions earlier this month. "Each year, they send you the postcard with your number on the list. You get excited but you keep looking at the big number. You keep thinking maybe this year, maybe next year ... and it finally happened."
It happened thanks to a 7,000-seat expansion at Lambeau, which allowed Mommaerts to join 3,800 others as new season ticket holders. More than 100,000 people remain on the waiting list.
Other National Football League teams maintain waiting lists, but none are quite like the Packers, said Brian McCarthy, a league spokesman.
"We don't keep track of the number of teams that have waiting lists, but the Packers have one of the most passionate fan bases in the world," McCarthy said. "Many people put their newborn on the waiting list, and it may not be until 35 years later that they get a ticket. It's pretty remarkable."
Officials said the reason why it's so hard to get a ticket for a game can depend on a team's popularity, but is also because of the NFL's short window of play, which includes only eight regular-season home games.
Patrick Smyth, executive director of media relations for the Denver Broncos, said his team has approximately 45,000 names on its season ticket waiting list — a list that began in the mid 1970s.
He estimates it takes between 10 to 15 years to get tickets to watch a game. In Green Bay, the wait is much longer.
"Our season ticket waiting list began in 1960 ... but basically remained in the several thousands number for most of those years," said Aaron Popkey, director of public affairs for the Green Bay Packers. "From the early 1990s until now, the list grew exponentially."
Popkey said on average, only about 100 new people get season tickets each year.
Twenty-five years ago, Luke Schaefer's grandfather put his name, along with the names of his brother and three cousins, on the Packers season ticket waiting list. Each year they waited, until this past summer when the envelope arrived in the mail telling them they finally had the chance to buy tickets.
"It was awesome -- it was one of the best days of my life," said Schaefer, 30, who lives in Green Bay and grew up less than a mile away from Lambeau Field. "Being able to have my own tickets means the world to me. I live and die for the Packers."
Jennifer Owen put her daughter's name on the list 10 years ago -- the day after she was born. Today, the energetic little girl who wears a Packers cheerleader outfit every Sunday during the season, still has 50,000 names ahead of her.
"I figured I would never see the tickets in my lifetime, so I put her name on the list," Owen said. "Maybe by the time she's 40, she'll get tickets and she'll be able to take her old mom to a game or two."
Popkey said he believes the reason why the list is so long is because the team is community-owned and that it is cherished by its fans.
Throughout the team's history, the Packers have had five shareholder offerings. The first three "literally saved the franchise from bankruptcy, the other two raised money for renovations at Lambeau which then put the team on better financial footing," he said.
"I think it's the nature of the team, being community owned, coming from the smallest market in the NFL and having a great history going back to 1919," Popkey said. "We often hear from fans -- if we aren't their favorite team, we are their second favorite team. Football fans in general just like the story that is the Packers."
Konz also reports for The (Louisville) Courier-Journal
http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/packers/2013/10/24/packers-fan-nabs-seat-after-34-year-wait/3181649/
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