They still need to beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers first, but the Los Angeles Rams appear to be trying to keep San Francisco 49ers away from SoFi Stadium
49ers Faithfull has the Rams worried.
Los Angeles has yet to secure a spot in the NFC Championship Game, but the team is already taking steps to keep Niners fans out of Sophie Stadium in hosting games next weekend.
The Rams are restricting public ticket sales for what will be the All-West Conference title game for residents of Southern California.
On Ticketmaster, the NFL's ticketing site, the Rams left this notice for visitors wishing to purchase tickets to the game:
"Public sales for games at Sophie Stadium in Inglewood, CA will be restricted to residents of the Greater Los Angeles area. Residency will be based on credit card billing address at checkout."
Sorry, lifelong Rams fans of St. Louis.
Sales in other regions will be canceled and refunded without notice, the site says.
The Athletic's David Lombardi saw the note and tweeted it.
The Faithful has given the Rams cause for concern: The Week 18 game between teams has at least a third of Sophie Stadium filled with red. It must have been close to half the stadium.
When the Rams played there after returning from St. Louis, the LA Coliseum was filled with fans of the Niners.
After securing a playoff berth in front of a surprisingly red crowd, the Niners were again welcomed by a large friendly squad on a wild-card win in Dallas. The Niner Gang was less prevalent on Saturday nights in Green Bay, where the fans owned the team and the air felt like zero degrees.
Obviously, Ram expects a revival of Faithful next weekend.
This isn't the first time a team has restricted playoff tickets based on location: The Seahawks banned sales from California residents in the 2013 title game against the 49ers. Since, it has become common practice, but this may be the first instance of doing so within a state.