Hawks playoff tickets are quick sellout

If you want a ticket to Saturday's Seahawks playoff game, you'll have to buy one from somebody who already has one.

Only 2,000 tickets were available to the general public Monday, and all were snapped up in just 10 minutes.

Saturday's game is a sellout, with all 67,000 seats at Qwest Field technically filled. That's why ticket offerings through online registries such as eBay and Craigslist, as well as ticket brokers, are heating up.

On Craigslist more than 200 people were buying or selling Seahawks tickets Monday. The prices generally were running from $200 to $400, although one seller was asking for $1,000.

On eBay, there were 361 ticket postings.

But there are other options, including buying tickets through ticket conduits like TicketsNow.com that link buyers and sellers, and ticket brokers such as StubHub.com, a national ticket broker that operates much like eBay.

According to Sean O'Connor, a StubHub spokesman, the Washington-Seattle game Saturday is by far the best-selling Seahawks game in StubHub history.

The game has sold the most tickets of any NFL playoff game this season on StubHub.

The average Seahawks ticket price on StubHub on Monday was $240, and the most expensive ticket sold was $800 for a seat at the club level.

Another way to get a playoff ticket — though it's too late for Saturday's game — was to buy season tickets for next year.

Jai Ferguson, who recently moved here from New York, put up money early enough for three season tickets for next season. Ferguson then was able to get three $65 tickets for Saturday's game and for the following game if the Seahawks survive.

How do the Seahawks' ticket prices compare to those for other playoff-bound teams? Right in the middle.

According to StubHub, the highest ticket prices are for the game in Chicago, against Carolina, where the average ticket price was $364. The bargain is the game in Denver, against New England, where tickets were going for $172.

Susan Gilmore: 206-464-2054 or sgilmore@seattletimes.com