Tickets available for less than face value on Kijiji

For some football fans in Ottawa, Grey Cup Fever has turned into a huge headache.

Many fans in the nation’s capital bought tickets with hopes that the hometown Ottawa Redblacks, the defending Grey Cup champions, would have an opportunity to defend their title.

A disappointing 31-20 loss to the Saskatchewan Roughriders in the Canadian Football League East Division semifinal put an end to the Redblacks’ season.

And now, some fans want to dump their tickets.

A quick look on Kijiji shows many tickets are being sold at below face value.

“It looks like there are 500-1,000 tickets out there for sale right now,” Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group president of sports Jeff Hunt said Friday.

HOMETOWN TEAM NOT PLAYING

“This happens every year when the hometown team isn’t playing in the game. So a lot of tickets surface and sometimes you’re getting 50 cents on the dollar if you’re trying to sell.

“One or two days before the game, this is quite common. One of my buddies decided he wasn’t going to go. He had $500 tickets and sold them for $350 US.”

While those looking to dump their tickets aren’t happy, it’s good for buyers who maybe couldn’t afford the original cost and want to check out a Grey Cup that features the league’s two first-place teams — the Toronto Argonauts and the Calgary Stampeders.

“You get fans who couldn’t or wouldn’t pay a few hundred dollars for a ticket, now they find they can afford it,” said Hunt, who, before he got involved with the Grey Cups, sometimes bought tickets at the last minute at a reduced price. tbaines@postmedia.com