Tickets for three NFL games being played in London, including one involving the Jets, went on sale Thursday but had to be halted after concerns arose about the legitimacy of some of the sales overseas.
According to The 33rd Team’s Ari Meirov, Ticketmaster had to pause sales for the games being played in London to make sure the people buying tickets were real and not bots trying to scoop them up to be resold on the secondary market. Meirov posted a screenshot of the queue when he logged on, and it showed 257,876 people were waiting to buy tickets.
When NJ Advance Media went to the website at 10:30 a.m. EDT, there were still 204,400 people listed as waiting in the queue to buy tickets, with an estimated wait time showing to be more than an hour. There was also a message displayed on the website that explained the situation. However, at 11:05 a.m. EDT, the number was down to 126,400 and the wait was cut to 24 minutes.
“Tickets for NFL London Games are still available and your spot in the queue is secure,” Ticketmaster said. “Our tech teams spotted bad actors and we are working to keep them out. Thank you for your patience.”
The European Union has tougher restrictions for purchasing tickets with bots than the United States currently has in place. According to France 24, the EU forbids the use of automated online bots to buy thousands of tickets for events and resell them at higher prices.
The league is scheduled to play three games in London, starting with an Oct. 5 matchup between the Minnesota Vikings and Cleveland Browns, followed by the Denver Broncos facing the Jets on Oct. 12, and ending Oct. 19 with the Los Angeles Rams playing the Jacksonville Jaguars.
NFL owners have seen the international market as a path to expand the game, create new fans and tap into a new revenue source. If most of the people in line to buy tickets are legitimate, there could be a chance that more games are played in Europe and other locations around the world. Besides London, there will be games played in Dublin, São Paulo, Berlin and Madrid.
Chris Franklin may be reached at cfranklin@njadvancemedia.com.