Jim Harbaugh and his San Francisco 49ers won’t walk into a welcoming environment Sunday when they face the Seattle Seahawks in the NFC Championship Game, but he’s OK with that — more than OK with that, actually.
The Seahawks caused a stir earlier in the week when they announced they wouldn’t sell title-game tickets to anyone with a credit-card billing address in the state of California. The team limited its ticket sales to just six states and two Canadian provinces in an effort to keep home-field advantage an advantage, and Harbaugh sees nothing wrong with that plan.
“It’s within the spirit of the rules of the National Football League,” Harbaugh said. “I actually respect it, what you’re trying to do for your team, put them in the best possible position to win that you can.
“And I respect that their organization does that for their team. They do that in a lot of ways, with their team, with their fans, with their organization. So, what do I think of it? I respect it.”
Niners fans must turn to the secondary market if they want to take on the Seahawks’ famed “12th Man.” As of Tuesday night, more than 5,000 tickets remained on StubHub, with the cheapest seats starting at $428.80 for a single upper-deck ticket.
The Denver Broncos also took a page out of the Seahawks’ playbook this week and restricted ticket sales to Sunday’s AFC Championship Game against the New England Patriots to those in the Rocky Mountain states.
