Fans searching for last-minute tickets to tonight’s BCS National Championship game may be facing a case of sticker shock.
The average price for tickets to the January 9 title game reached a high of about $3,000 each on the resale market. Since hitting that peak average, ticket prices have dropped to about $2,000 apiece, according to ticket search engine FanSnap.
The high price is not a record, FanSnap general manager Mike Janes told TicketNews. However, he added that LSU and Alabama’s close proximity to the game’s venue, Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans, will keep ticket sales active throughout the day.
“Since it is effectively an LSU home game, and traveling is easy from Alabama, we expect to see a lot of same-day transactions as sellers decide whether to drop prices or go to the game themselves,” Janes said.
The average ticket price for the 2011 national title game — played in Glendale, AZ, and won by Auburn over Oregon — was $4,600, according to FanSnap. Tickets for the 2010 game — won by Alabama over Texas at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, CA — fetched an average price of $1,150.
Tonight’s game features a rematch of two Southeastern Conference powerhouses. Although the BCS faced criticism over the pairing, interest in BCS tickets remained steady over the past month, Janes said.
StubHub spokesperson Joellen Ferrer told the Huffington Post that the most expensive ticket sold through StubHub for tonight’s game went for $9,600 on January 5. The least expensive ticket sold for $500.
As of 4 p.m. on January 9, the most expensive championship game ticket on StubHub was listed for $4,500. But prices may yet tick down as kick-off draws near and resellers look to unload remaining tickets.
“As of early this afternoon, there were about 1,200 [BCS Championship] ticket listings available on at least nine ticket company Web sites,” Janes said.
