[vincesanity82]

The Minneapolis Star-Tribune reports that Vikings fans who want to buy tickets to see their team host the Packers or Bears this season will have to pay extra.

Technically, the tickets themselves aren't extra, but anyone who wants to buy tickets to Minnesota's September 30 game against Green Bay will have to buy tickets to the August 10 preseason game against St. Louis, and anyone who buys tickets to the December 17 game against Chicago will have to buy a ticket to the August 30 preseason game against Dallas. The Vikings call the ticket packages, which range from $92 to $248, "two-game mini-packs."

This is nothing new -- the Vikings and other NFL teams have done it before -- but it's one of the things that rankles fans, who think they're already paying enough of their hard-earned cash that they don't need to be forced to spend more of it on games they don't want to see.

But while it might seem unfair, from the team's standpoint, there are two reasons to do it. The first, more obvious, reason is that when the Packers and Bears come to town, the demand for tickets exceeds the supply, and charging extra by packaging tickets to those games with preseason tickets that might otherwise go unsold is an easy way to make more money.

The other reason is that forcing people who buy Bears or Packers tickets to buy Vikings preseason tickets, too, might discourage some Bears and Packers fans from making the trip to Minnesota to see their teams. It's always embarrassing when the visiting team's fans fill up a stadium, and the Vikings don't want to be in a situation where thousands of Bears or Packers fans are drowning out Vikings fans at the Metrodome. Some Bears or Packers fans who might otherwise make the trip will decide not to if they also have to buy a ticket to a Vikings preseason game that they have no desire to attend.

By the way: What does it say about the Lions that the Vikings don't feel the need to charge extra for their other divisional home game?

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[Lefty Noob]

Cheap marketing tactics - another way to try and bleed the fan dry. Doesn't it already cost enough to go to a game?