Verizon outage: Lions urge fans to download tickets before Monday Night Football

DETROIT (FOX 2) – A widespread Verizon outage could have a devastating impact on Lions fans Monday night. Now the team is asking all fans to download their tickets before going to the game.

DownDetector.com, which monitors online complaints about technology outages, saw a spike in the number of users reporting problems with texting and calling starting around 9:30 a.m. ET.

Many people reported being stuck in SOS mode on their phone and unable to send messages or make calls.

The Detroit Lions – and all major sports teams – have ticketless entry, meaning you must scan the tickets on your phone to attend the game.

The Verizon outage could cause major problems when trying to get to Ford Field for Monday Night Football against the Seattle Seahawks.

At 4:30 p.m. Monday, several hours before gates opened, the Lions encouraged fans to download tickets at home instead of relying on their cell phone provider at the gate.

What is SOS mode?

Starting with the iPhone 14, Apple released a feature that allows users to be notified of emergency calls via satellite, even when they are out of range of cellular and Wi-Fi networks or during network outages.

The messages are routed directly via satellite to dispatchers who take text messages or to routing centers with specialists who can call for help on the user's behalf, FOX News reports.

SOS mode will automatically turn off once cellular service is restored.

Google has announced that a similar feature will be available starting with the Google Pixel 9.