Waiting the hardest for season ticket Hopefuls by PG Walter

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Posted May 15, 2007

Waiting is the hardest part for Packers season-ticket hopefuls

Fans on list must pay Wednesday or lose their spot

By Tony Walter
[email protected]


Charles Tollefson is 8 weeks old, lives in Portland, Ore., and will become a Green Bay Packers season-ticket holder if the size of Lambeau Field is doubled or 74,000 tickets become available in his lifetime.


"I don't expect him to get tickets," said Josh Tollefson, 29, his father, who was born and raised in Green Bay and whose great uncle, Charlie Tollefson, played for the Packers in 1944-46.


It was Josh's father, Carl, who did what so many others have done. He put his two grandchildren — Charles and 2-year-old Howard — on the Packers' growing season-ticket waiting list despite the odds.


Season-ticket holders face a Wednesday deadline to pay for their 2007 tickets and an overwhelming percentage will do it. In the last three seasons, fewer than 200 names were removed from the list, providing faint hopes for the thousands who wait to see if their name will rise to the top.


In 2001-02, more than 2,600 names came off the list as many fans balked at paying the one-time user fee ($1,400 for a Green package ticket, $600 for a Gold package ticket).


"We'll keep taking the names," said Mark Wagner, the Packers ticket director. "And we'll keep sending postcards every year to let the people on the list know where they stand."


The Packers don't have the largest waiting list in the National Football League. According to 2005 statistics, the Washington Redskins have 175,000 names on their list and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have 115,000 names.


However, the Bucs let people sign up online, a process Wagner said the Packers aren't considering.


"We felt it best to do it this way because these are people with genuine interest and are passionate about it," said Wagner, adding that online registration would only increase the number of casual fans.




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