It's early January and they are still talking about the NFL on ESPN Radio in Chicago. The Bears are in the playoffs, just two wins away from the Super Bowl. It's huge, right? The hottest ticket in town? Well, apparently not.
"No one ever envisioned it would be Seattle," said ESPN 1000's Mark Silverman. "Now that they're saying, 'Ok, it's Seattle, this should be another home game,' they're thinking, you may as well stay home."
According to ticket brokers, Sunday's matchup between the Bears and the Seattle Seahawks is a major disappointment.
"We thought we would get a lot of calls for the game. But everyone wants to wait. They think that it's going to be a Bears-Packer game for the NFC conference game," said Max Waisvisz, Gold Coast Tickets.
Waisvisz says he's selling tickets for just a few dollars more than face value. It will cost about $125 to get one of the cheaper seats in the stadium.
It's the same story on the StubHub website, where many sellers seem to be just trying to unload their tickets at this point.
Supply is up. Demand is down.
At the Palace sandwich shop there is more talk about the Bulls game Saturday against the Miami Heat than the Bears-Seahawks game.
"A lot of the times with these games, there is a big fervor, people want to go. I really haven't heard about people going to the game," said George Lemperis, The Palace Sandwich Shop.
Some fans say winter weather has something to do with it as well.
"I'm gonna be at home in front of my 52-inch television watching the game...I don't want to be out there in the cold weather. I'm out there enough," said Clarence Thomas, Bears fan.
Others say the often inconsistent Bears have failed to instill much confidence in fans.
"My dad likes to call them the hot butter defense," said Mike Fuentes, Bears fan.
Bears fans hoping to see an NFC championship in Chicago are in the unusual and perhaps uncomfortable position of having to root for the Green Bay Packers this weekend. If the Packers lose, regardless, this weekend's will be the last game of the year at Soldier Field.
