Rams Fans Lament Lack of Tickets for Showdown at Candlestick Park

If you’re a Rams fan looking for tickets to the playoff game against the 49ers Sunday, forget it. Unless, of course, you’re willing to pay dearly--up to $1,000 per seat.

Fresh from a 19-13 overtime victory over the New York Giants, the Rams are riding high. So, too, are tickets to their National Football Conference championship game in San Francisco against last year’s Super Bowl champions. The victor wins the right to play for the National Football League championship in Super Bowl XXIV in New Orleans on Jan. 28.

Callers began flooding area ticket agencies with inquiries early Monday morning. Fans were turned away from Anaheim Stadium throughout the day. Rams officials said no Candlestick Park tickets are for sale to the general public.

The official word is that the team was given 300 tickets. Those, said Nancy Van Acker, spokeswoman for the NFL club, will be reserved for players, coaches and staff members. She and other Rams officials declined to provide a breakdown on who will get the prized tickets.

“We don’t have any tickets, not a one,” Rams ticket agent Pam Baker said. “It’s a shame.

“But hopefully some Rams fans up there can wear blue and gold and make a dent in the red,” referring to Rams team colors versus those of the 49ers.

Meanwhile, the shortage has driven scalpers out of the woodwork from the Orange County, Los Angeles and San Francisco Bay areas.

A Torrance man who took out an ad in The Times offering tickets for $1,000 each had more than a dozen phone calls by noon. The face value on the tickets is $125.

“The way I got them is kind of confidential,” he said, identifying himself only as Tim. “They were given to me by a friend.”

Another scalper in San Francisco offered tickets ranging from $250 to $1,000.

“Better talk about the cheap ones before the ad hits the Los Angeles papers,” a taped message said, “because they’re all coming up here.”

Most area ticket agents that have their own blocks of season tickets said they would not start selling tickets before Wednesday.

“It’s like a Super Bowl, because whoever wins this game will probably win the Super Bowl,” said Carol Lewis, an agent for Anaheim Ticket Service. “It doesn’t really matter what prices you quote, because there will be a big demand up until game time.”

Rams boosters said that they are holding out hope for tickets but acknowledged that chances are slim.

“We could have gotten as many as we wanted to for the New York Giants game,” booster club president Mary Jane Stratman said about Sunday’s playoff game at the Meadowlands in New Jersey. “But San Francisco is a sold-out stadium.”

Yet a group of about 30 die-hard fans plans to make the trip north anyway, hoping to buy tickets at the stadium on game day.