ANNAPOLIS – The hottest game in Maryland is 700 miles away tonight, but there’s still time to get a seat when the University of Maryland’s men’s basketball team makes its second trip to the Final Four in as many years.
But it’s going to cost you.
The National Collegiate Athletic Association match-up between Maryland and the University of Kansas in Atlanta’s Georgia Dome is sold out, with a crowd of 53,000 expected. Unless fans making the pilgrimage to Atlanta are part of the fortunate few able to purchase tickets through the university or the NCAA, they can expect to pay a hefty premium to watch the game from the stands instead of a television screen.
Depending on seat location, some individual tickets being sold by ticket brokers or scalpers are going for upwards of $500, said Mark, a ticket scalper who asked that his last name not be used. Face value for tickets runs from $120- $180, depending on the seat.
Close-to-court seats could go higher than $1,000, he said.
On the online auction Web site eBay Thursday afternoon, tickets were running about $800 a pair.
Courtside seats were going for $4,950 a pair, with only a few hours left before the auction expired.
Fans who want a seat at Monday’s national championship game may have an even cheaper option.
“People whose team loses Saturday night will probably be heading home Sunday,” the ticket broker said. That means they’d probably be willing to part with their tickets for Monday’s game cheap – possibly under face value.
“If you wait around for after the game finishes and just ask people whose team just lost — they’re pretty easy to identify from their colors — you can just go up to them and tell them that you’ll give them $25-$50 for their tickets,” he said. “Chances are they’ll probably sell them to you.”
But even the prices for surefire tickets from brokers aren’t as expensive as they could be. Compared to the Super Bowl, where a single ticket can run $4,000 to $5,000, Final Four tickets are a bargain.
Some Maryland fans were able to save hassle and money by going through the university’s ticket office, but for the most part they had to be very dedicated Terrapins to net a seat.
The university was allotted 4,500 tickets to sell to students and members of the Terrapin Club, an organization of alumni and fans of the university whose donations go toward funding athletic scholarships.
Students were sold 450 of the allotted tickets, while the Terrapin Club was allowed 3,400. The rest went to family and friends of players and coaches.
Clutching her tickets in hand and then quickly placing them in the safety of her purse, Jeanne Fineran was one of the fortunate Terrapin Club members who has her seat in Atlanta secure. A club member for 20 years and an alumna of the school, she was in line bright and early at the Cole Field House ticket booth at 8:30 a.m. Monday to place her ticket order. She was finally able to pick them up Wednesday afternoon.
“Some gentlemen came out and said, `If you’re not a Terp club member, don’t even bother standing in line,'” she said.
Still, Fineran thinks it’s fair for a large bulk of the tickets to go to the club members. Terrapin Club members are usually the most loyal and show the most support to the team with the presence as well as their wallets.
“I found it very efficient,” she said of the university’s ticket distribution system.
Alan Brody, one of the students who was able to buy a ticket from the university, also found the system effective.
The university held a lottery March 18 to determine which students would be able to buy tickets. Students filled out paperwork to be entered into a pool. They then found out if they were selected later that day. If they were, they were entitled to purchase Final Four tickets.
“We put in for our tickets that Monday, and by 8 p.m., they had it posted on their Web site where you could see if you were selected,” said Brody, a senior.
Just about all of his friends that requested tickets were able to buy them, he said.
With the games falling on the university’s spring break weekend, many students probably had already made plans for the weekend, Brody said. They probably didn’t want to risk making plans that would fall through if the team didn’t make it to the Final Four.