Market Report: Breaking down Sweet 16 ticket prices for SEC teams
By SDS Staff
Published:
Seven Southeastern Conference basketball teams qualified for March Madness, and more than half remain. Fully one-quarter of the remaining 16 teams hail from a conference that has the most dominant football team in recent history. Can one of the conference’s basketball teams start a dynasty of its own?
No. 2 seeds Tennessee and Kentucky, No. 3 seed LSU and No. 5 Auburn will take great pleasure in trying. Auburn, a bit of a surprise in the Sweet 16 after upsetting No. 4 Kansas in the second round, has the toughest Sweet 16 draw, as it will play No. 1-seeded North Carolina on Friday. The Sweet 16 and Elite 8 are set for four regional venues across the country beginning Thursday night.
Tennessee will be the first and only SEC team to tip off on Thursday, when it plays No. 3 Purdue at the South Regional. LSU plays No. 2 Michigan State at the East Regional Friday and Kentucky plays No. 3 Houston at the Midewest Regional, also Friday.
The most number of SEC teams that could advance to the Final Four from the Elite 8 is three, as Auburn and Kentucky would play each other in the Midwest Regional Final, should they both win on Friday.
Tickets for all three regionals are available through secondary ticket marketplace TicketIQ.com, and the average asking price ranges from $567 at the South Regional to $1,628 at the East Regional.
Below is a look at the remaining SEC teams.
No. 2 Tennessee vs. No. 3 Purdue
- When: Thursday, March 28, 7:29 p.m. on TBS
- Where: South Regional, KFC Yum! Center, Louisville, KY
- All Session Average Price/Get-In price: $567/$236
- Session 1 Average Price/Get-In Price: $322/$122
Though Tennessee enters the Sweet 16 as a 2-seed, it struggled to advance, needing overtime to beat Iowa and get a date with Purdue. The Vols are making their second consecutive NCAA tournament appearance and sixth Sweet 16 appearance since 2000. Tennessee and Purdue last played at the “Battle 4 Atlantis” in the Bahamas in 2017-18, and Tennessee walked away the winner. The teams have never met in the postseason.
According to TicketIQ.com, there are fewer than 142 all-session passes remaining on the secondary market. Fans can buy access to individual sessions for $322 for the Sweet 16 and $233 for the Elite 8 on the secondary market. The $567 all-session pass on the secondary market is the cheapest of all four regionals.
No. 3 LSU vs. No. 2 Michigan State
- When: Friday, March 29 at 7:09 p.m. on CBS
- Where: East Regional, Capital One Arena, Washington, D.C.
- All Session Average Price/Get-In price: $1,628/$550
- Session 1 Average Price/Get-In: $739/$300
LSU has reached the Final Four four times dating to 1957, but has never won a national title. This time around, they’ll have to get past favored Michigan State. The Tigers are making their first tournament appearance since 2015, and first Sweet 16 appearance since 2006, when they got the national championship game, only to lose to UCLA. LSU and MSU both played Florida and Maryland this year, and if common opponents tell us anything, MSU should come out the winner – it beat both teams, while LSU lost to Florida twice, but beat Maryland.
The East Regional is the only one with a price tag of more than $1,000, and is more than double the average asking price of the next most expensive regional. The average asking price for an all-session pass is up nearly 75% since Selection Sunday, and according to TicketIQ.com only 169 all-session passes remain on the secondary market. The average asking price of the Sweet 16 on the secondary market has dropped to $739 since Selection Sunday, while the average for the Elite 8 has dropped to $408.
No. 1 North Carolina vs. No. 5 Auburn
- When: Friday, March 29 at 7:29 p.m. on TBS
- Where: Midwest Regional, Sprint Center, Kansas City
- All Session Average Price/Get-In price: $568/$185
- Session 1 Average Price/Get-In Price: $482/$138
Auburn isn’t generally considered a basketball powerhouse, but after beating Kansas in the second round, even North Carolina would be wise to take notice. Auburn upended the Jayhawks by 15 points and were in control for nearly all of the second-round game. Auburn is making its fifth Sweet 16 appearance – the last one was in 2003, when the Tigers lost a heartbreaker to Syracuse, 79-78. In that tournament, Auburn was an upset special – a No. 10 seed that dumped No. 2 Wake Forest in the second round.
The Midwest Regional is the third priciest of the four regionals, though the West, Midwest and South are all bunched together with all-session passes averaging $578, $568 and $567, respectively. There are more all-session passes remaining – 486, according to TicketIQ.com – for the Midwest than any other regional. In terms of individual session passes, 1,237 remain on the secondary market for the Sweet 16 and 2,049 remain for the Elite 8.
No. 3 Houston vs. No. 2 Kentucky
- When: Friday, March 29 at 9:57 p.m. on TBS
- Where: Midwest Regional, Sprint Center, Kansas City
- All Session Average Price/Get-In price: $568/$185
- Session 1 Average Price/Get-In:$216/$105
Winners of eight national titles and a 12-time participant in the national championship, Kentucky is about as close as it gets to college basketball royalty. The Wildcats are making their third consecutive Sweet 16 appearance, and last won a national title in 2012. Houston, on the other hand, is making only its third NCAA appearance since 2000, though it did get to the national final in 1983 and 1984. Neither team was terribbly challenged on their path to the Sweet 16, though Wofford did give Kentucky a brief scare in the second round. Houston beat its opening opponents by a combined 158-114.
The Midwest Regional is the third priciest of the four regionals, though the West, Midwest and South are all bunched together with all-session passes averaging $578, $568 and $567, respectively. There are more all-session passes remaining – 486, according to TicketIQ.com – for the Midwest than any other regional. In terms of individual session passes, 1,237 remain on the secondary market for the Sweet 16 and 2,049 remain for the Elite 8.
Fans who are ready to buy tickets for the Final Four have an additional option through Shoowin.com, which sells reservations for face-value or no cost tickets to big events. For the Final Four this allows customers to buy a reservation for a ticket for their favorite team to Final Four for a chance at getting Final Four tickets for no extra cost. Prices for the remaining SEC teams can be found below:
Saturday Down South reports and comments on the news around the Southeastern Conference as well as larger college football topics.
