Football season is upon us, and the best tickets for fall certainly reflect that. As with any ticketing venture, which teams to invest in is as risky as playing dice. Some teams, however, are safe bets no matter who they play.
Notre Dame is one of those teams. Combine the Fighting Irish with the correct opposite and ticket prices will skyrocket to a Super Bowl-style kingdom. Saturday’s game against Georgia Tech opened Georgia’s season with a sellout, even though the school had only seen five in the past three seasons. It was the fourth biggest college football game this summer on StubHub.com.
Whether fans come out to support the Irish or those hoping to see them crushed, wherever the team goes, follow the call for tickets. Georgia Tech knew this ahead of time, and in an effort to sell tickets to other games, they only sold game tickets as part of a three-game ticket package. “Flexible packs” allowed buyers to choose three home games to complete the package. Of the 12,000 packages sold, nearly all included a Notre Dame ticket, according to The Atlanta Journal Constitution.
Tickets to see Notre Dame this Saturday against the Penn State Nittany Lions at Notre Dame Stadium are priced from $295 to nearly $3,900 at TicketLiquidator.com. The highest ticket for the season is listed at $3,968 for a game against UCLA on Oct. 21 on the site.
College football has its fans, and these prices reflect the fans’ devotion to the sport. The price parallels and even replaces that of NFL games, which notoriously sell for well above face value.
Penn State has its own devoted following, as the team’s 11-1 record last year has inspired a rush of tickets on the secondary market, with fans and running backs looking to capitalize on the team’s success. According to CentreDaily.com, student season tickets sold out two months earlier this year than last year, with public tickets only available for three of the seven home games.
Last week, the first citation for resale was served on a student who tried to resell a $166 ticket for $750, CentreDaily.com reported. Last season he led to 45 arrests for scalping. Under state law, it’s illegal to resell a ticket for more than $5 or 25 percent over face value (whichever is higher), but buying the ticket isn’t.
Not all computers have these problems. This Friday’s Green Bay Packers game against the Tennessee Titans is selling tickets below face value in many places. TicketKing.com has over 350 listings and you will lose money in the game.
Last year’s season wasn’t very successful for the Packers, but the low price of Friday’s game is probably related to timing. The match was scheduled for 3pm, not the most convenient time for many hard-working fans. However, it also offers fans who normally can’t afford to watch the team a chance to catch a game.
Vikings sales are also slow this season, with the area’s attention focused more on the Twins. Taking advantage of the slow start is also a way to get good deals on tickets to see the team. And secondary sites are a great place to find tickets that fans are downloading due to lack of enthusiasm.
Whether it’s game time or fickle fans, the time to catch your favorite team can be when you’re down, and the place to do it is in the secondary market, the only place free enterprise can dictate underpricing. of face value.