The Detroit Lions have revoked the season tickets of a fan who got into an on-field verbal exchange with Green Bay Packers coach Matt LaFleur before last week’s ‘Thursday Night Football’ game.
The Lions confirmed the decision to revoke the tickets to ESPN. The Packers were in Detroit for the second of two games against their NFC North rival, with the Lions winning again on a walk-off field goal.
The Lions are off to the franchise’s best start with a 12-1 record.
Here’s what you need to know about the altercation’s fallout.
All things Lions: Latest Detroit Lions news, schedule, roster, stats, injury updates and more.
Altercation between Packers coach Matt LaFleur and fan
A TV camera caught part of the verbal exchange that occurred before the game between the two men.
The fan has been identified as Fahad Yousif, according to The Detroit News.
LaFleur told reporters that Yousif was “talking junk to our players, giving them the throat-slash sign.”
The coach also added that Yousif had gotten in his face down on the field.
Yousif was on the field to hold a giant flag while the national anthem was playing.
What else did Matt LaFleur say about the situation?
The coach told reporters he’s never seen anything like that take place on the field and expected better security to prevent situations like that from happening.
‘… I thought it was an arrogant fan that wanted to get in a part of the action,” LaFleur said. “I would like to see security, or something step in there and get him out of there, because he shouldn’t be doing that.’
How did fan respond to having his season tickets revoked?
Yousif told The Detroit News that he was devastated to find out that he lost access to his season ticket as a result of what he called the “small incident.”
‘The biggest gut punch,’ Yousif told The Detroit News. ‘Just waking up and seeing that email and not being able to talk to somebody in person, it was a terrible feeling. I don’t have my chance to give my side of the story or anything.’