As the Vikings prepare for the NFC Championship Game in Philadelphia this weekend, they're closer than any team has ever been to playing the Super Bowl in their home stadium. And by Monday, Vikings season ticketholders will know if they have a chance to purchase seats for the game at U.S. Bank Stadium.
The Vikings are setting up contingency plans for ticket distribution in the event they beat the Eagles on Sunday and advance to Super Bowl LII. They will enlist a third party to conduct a random drawing this week, notifying season ticketholders via email on Monday if they've been selected for the opportunity to purchase two upper-level seats to the game. The face value of those tickets starts at $950; most of the Vikings' available seats would remain at that figure.
Ordinarily, the NFL distributes 17.5 percent of the Super Bowl ticket manifest to the NFC and AFC champions, with another five percent going to the host team. This year, if the Vikings win the NFC, they would split the host team's pool of tickets with the AFC team, meaning both the Vikings and the AFC champion would have access to roughly 20 percent of the ticket manifest.
U.S. Bank Stadium's capacity will not be expanded beyond its normal 66,655 for the Super Bowl, and a portion of the available seats will be blocked off for auxiliary press seating, NFL sponsors and the like, meaning the actual number of tickets available to the Vikings, if they win the NFC, would be one-fifth of the remaining capacity.
The number of chances each season ticket account has in the lottery will be determined by the number of tickets in the account, multiplied by the number of seasons those tickets have been held. So, for example, a family that has held four season tickets for 25 years would have 100 chances to be selected in the lottery.
Some ticketholders who are not selected for the initial drawing could also be selected for an auxiliary pool, with a chance to purchase tickets if some fans selected in the initial drawing decide not to buy tickets for the game.