BCS National Championship tickets can be had for a little under $400. That’s right, a little under $400. Now, I know some of you are thinking, $400 isn’t cheap for a football game, and I agree. But consider this from 2 years ago:

Dec. 30–There is a line Gator fan Trey refuses to cross. “I am not going to pose as a Buckeye to get tickets. No way” says the 27-year-old 2002 University of Florida graduate. With people asking for more than $1,000 per ticket to the BCS National Championship game, [Trey] may have no choice as a third-year law student attending the University of Dayton in Ohio. For [Trey], there are two kinds of tickets he can afford: the ones snatched up quickly or the ones offered by Ohio State University fans who would rather give their ticket away free than see it go to a Gator fan such as [Trey]. Friends suggest [Trey] swallow his pride — maybe put on a scarlet and gray sweater — and do whatever it takes to nab those rare tickets to the big game in Glendale, Ariz. “No — freaking — way,” he says.

A little more than a week before the game, almost 500 tickets are for sale on ticket-broker Web sites. Some sellers ask as much as $5,000 for a pair of tickets on the 40-yard line. This year’s ticket prices are some of the highest ever for a national championship game, said J. Michaels, the owner of TeamOneTickets.com. Michaels predicts people will have to pay $900 to $1,100 each to attend this year’s game.

[Trey's] limit is double the face value of the tickets, about $350.

“For the same money we could stay at home, get a killer big-screen TV and watch the game in HD,” he said.

Copyright (c) 2006, South Florida Sun-Sentinel – Byline: Andrew Tran –  Edited by me.

In the end, my constant nagging of people didn’t get me tickets (in case you haven’t put it together yet, I’m the aforementioned Trey). I was interviewed by about 4-5 newspapers, called to be on a Dayton, OH radio show, and even emailed by some members of the Fiesta Bowl committee. Nothing. Zilch. Nada. Why? Simply because the secondary market made it so none were to be had. The ones that were available were going at about $1000-$1200 a pop for nosebleeds. It one of the most profitable sporting events ever for re-sellers.

Now, fast forward to 2008, to a championship game in the home state of one of the participants…The South Florida Sun-Sentinel has reported that “On Monday, the cheapest seats available on Web sites such as StubHub, eBay and Craigslist were about $400. On Tuesday, some seats had dropped to $375.”

Is the economy in such a disarray that people aren’t willing to spend? Without going into a political debate, it sure looks like it. And, this isn’t the only bowl game struggling on the resale market. The Orange Bowl featuring Virginia Tech and Cincinnati, held in the same stadium, has tickets for $10 on Stub Hub. That is about $155 below face value.

The usually strong traveling fan base of Ohio State, who helped drive up the prices in 2006, has shied away from traveling to Phoenix this year, even though and the athletic department made their ticket allotment available to the general public. Despite doing so, they still haven’t completely sold out.

To be fair, not all is down. The December 27th Meineke Car Care Bowl between West Virginia and North Carolina has sold out. The Hawai’i Bowl between Notre Dame and Hawai’i has sparked large sales demand from all over the country. And, as usual, the Rose Bowl is the hardest ticket to come by outside of the BCS National Championship.

So why is the BCS title game struggling for re-sellers? There are still three weeks before the big game, and why rush? Florida fans simply have to hop in a car and drive. Most don’t have to book plane tickets and make hard travel arraignments to get to the game.

As for the Oklahoma fans? They will come, but flights into Miami are a cool $400-$500 according to Kayak.com.  Add to that approximately $200+ for a hotel room within 5 miles of Dolphins Stadium, and then there’s the actual cost of the tickets. Add all that up, and you’ve got an expensive trip there.

And the rest of the bowl system? There are too many games spreading the talent out. That’s the best way to put it. You think a 7-5 Maryland team has fans amped enough to make the trip to Boise, ID to play 7-5 Nevada? Schools with games locally like USF haven’t even sold out; and with a  6-6 Memphis as their opponent, the matchup it isn’t exactly a shocker.

Of course, this will all rebound in a few years and people will be throwing money around to attend bowl games  like it’s going out of style. For now though, like everything else in today’s market, it’s selling low, much to the chagrin of your local neighborhood ticket re-sellers.

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