With Final Four Teams Announced, Fans Scramble To Find Tickets

With the Final Four taking place Saturday, fans "from across the country are scrambling to secure tickets to the games,” according to Lyons Yellin of the New Orleans TIMES-PICAYUNE. PrimeSport President Sam Soni, whose company partnered with the NCAA in ’07 to establish a ticket exchange, said that this late rush “is part of the second wave of demand.” Soni: “The first wave of demand is generally based on people just wanting to attend the event. The second wave of the demand is when the participants are announced. Having two teams from Kentucky, Ohio State and Kansas -- all four schools with very strong fan bases who travel very well ... we definitely saw a spike (in demand).” According to PrimeSport, the “average order value for this year’s Final Four is $1,327, up 30 percent from $931 last year in Houston, where Kentucky joined Butler, Virginia-Commonwealth and eventual champion Connecticut.” The listings on the exchange as of yesterday “ranged from $324 to $15,000.” With its new configuration, the Mercedes-Benz Superdome “will hold more than 74,000 fans for the sold-out event.” The NCAA “allots 40 percent (29,760) of available tickets to the general public and begins the application process for the annual sellout a year in advance.” The majority of transactions have initiated in Kentucky (34%), followed by California (12%) and Kansas (7%). The NCAA made available "710 additional student-tickets for each of the participating universities" (New Orleans TIMES-PICAYUNE, 3/28). Meanwhile, StubHub Head of U.S. Communications Joellen Ferrer said that 37% of ticket buyers for the Final Four are from Kentucky, with 9% from Louisiana and 6% from Texas (THE DAILY).

HOMETOWN PREPARATIONS: In Louisville, Joseph Lord reports Louisville and Lexington police will “be out in force Saturday night, prepared to close down streets and make arrests if fan revelry turns riotous over the NCAA Final Four semifinal showdown” between the Univ. of Kentucky and the Univ. of Louisville. Louisville police will deploy “about 10 times as many as on a typical Saturday,” while Lexington police are “planning a similarly strong presence, with extra officers from the city, county sheriff and campus on duty, particularly in downtown” (Louisville COURIER JOURNAL, 3/28).