Titans change ticket policy for playoff game in hopes of keeping Bengals fans mostly out of Nissan Stadium

With the Titans getting set to host just their second playoff game over the past 10 years, the team is doing its best to make sure Nissan Stadium isn’t overrun by Bengals fans on Saturday. 

In an interview with New Channel 5 in Nashville, the team’s vice president of ticketing, Brooke Ellenberger, admitted that the Titans had implemented a new ticket policy this week in hopes of limiting the number of Bengals fans at the game. 

Under the adjusted policy, tickets can’t be transferred to anyone who purchases them until 24 hours before the game. 

“We want Nissan Stadium to be two-tone blue,” Ellenberger said. “And so by limiting this transfer window, it also limits the number of visiting team fans that we’ll have in the stadium.”

Since a potential buyer won’t have tickets in hand until late Friday afternoon at the earliest, that makes it harder for opposing fans to plan their weekend. It also could scare some opposing fans away since they might think they’re being scammed if the seller tells them they can’t send them the tickets until Friday. 

“By limiting that transfer time would limit some of the resale and some of that transfer activity that would happen in advance,” Ellenberger explained.

It should be noted that the the 24-hour transfer policy doesn’t apply to anyone who purchased their tickets through an NFL ticket partner like StubHub, Ticketmaster or Seat Geek. However, if you buy a ticket there and then try to resell it, the resold ticket will be subject to the 24-hour policy. 

The Titans are clearly at least somewhat worried that Bengals fans might take over Nissan Stadium and their concerns are definitely valid. Not only is Nashville just a four-and-a-half-hour drive from Cincinnati, but Bengals fans are definitely eager to attend the team’s first divisional round playoff game in 31 years. 

If you’re wondering how big this game is for Bengals fans, they already have their own tailgate planned for Saturday near Nissan Stadium. 

Bengals fans are also planning to take over a bar near Broadway on Friday night. 

Although the Titans are doing everything they can to clamp down on Bengals fans attending Saturday’s game, it should be noted that this isn’t the first time that a team has gone out of its way to limit the amount of opposing fans at a game. 

Back in January 2016, the Broncos limited all ticket sales for the AFC Championship Game to fans who lived in the Rocky Mountain region (Colorado, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, South Dakota, Utah, western Kansas and Wyoming). If you didn’t have a zip code from that area, then you couldn’t buy tickets, which limited the amount of Patriots fans who were able to attend. 

It will be interesting to see if Tennessee’s plan works. However, if social media is any indication, there are going to be a lot of Bengals fans at Nissan Stadium on Saturday at 4:30 p.m. ET when this game kicks off. 

If the Bengals win, they’ll advance to the AFC title game for the first time since the 1988 season, which is something that many of their fans are clearly hoping to witness in person.