The Carolina Panthers looked terrible in their season opener. As fans were licking their wounds from that divisional beating, they were hit with the news that star defensive tackle Derrick Brown would require meniscus surgery and could possibly miss the rest of the season. There were several critics of the decision to raise ticket prices coming off a 2-15 season. With a bleak outlook already after just one game, one fan decided to list their game tickets for the Falcons matchup on Seat Geek for just $1.
The pair of tickets ended up selling for just $1.80
That’s right; for less than the price of a medium box of fries from McDonald’s, a pair of Panthers fans will get to watch Bryce Young and co. battle Kirk Cousins and the Atlanta Falcons battle it out at Bank of America Stadium. To say it’s embarrassing is a severe understatement. You can say that it’s just Week One, but these fans are tired. Exasperated. The team looked insanely outmatched in all phases of the game. It was a horrendous start to the franchise’s 30-year history – a history that has been marked with inconsistency.
The fan, who preferred to stay anonymous, stated, “I’ve paid for season tickets for more than half a decade and haven’t seen a winning season or even a .500 season.” Carolina has not had a winning season since 2017 where they lost to the New Orleans Saints in the Wild Card round. The closest they came to even sniffing the postseason came when Steve Wilks took over as interim head coach and went 6-6 to close out the 2022 season. What Wilks was able to do gave fans hope and a glimpse at the “Keep Pounding” culture making a return.
The moves since Frank Reich was hired over Wilks have left fans scratching their heads and begging for reprieve, but they are growing impatient. Ticket sales have reflected the loss of optimism as visiting teams routinely invaded and took over Bank of America Stadium. As for taking a loss on the sale of the tickets, the fan stated, “The (social media) reaction is great. I love seeing that the rest of the fan base is as fed up as I am. Best sunk cost I’ve ever spent.”
Carolina plays their first home game of the season on Sunday when they host the Los Angeles Chargers. Depending on the performance of the team, it will be interesting to see the impact on ticket prices as face value has already starting dropping when compared to the presale prices.
