SEC Championship Game Is One Hot Ticket, With Prices Up This Year

The SEC Championship Game is “back to being a hot ticket,” according to Jon Solomon of the BIRMINGHAM NEWS. The defacto national semifinal game Saturday between No. 2 Alabama and No. 3 Georgia is “selling on StubHub for an average of $479 per ticket.” That puts this game “back in the ballpark of recent SEC title games when a national championship spot was at stake.” Last year's SEC Championship Game “had an average StubHub price of $298.” No. 1 LSU was “essentially assured of a spot in the BCS Championship Game whether it beat Georgia or not.” The ‘10 Auburn-South Carolina championship game “drew an average price of $451 on StubHub.” The ‘08 and ‘09 SEC title games between Alabama and Florida were also “defacto national semifinal games,” and the ‘08 game won by Florida “averaged $488 and the rematch Alabama won in 2009 drew $573.” Demand for the SEC Championship Game this year “far outweighs that for other conferences.” The cheapest tickets on StubHub for other league championship games includes “Stanford-UCLA in the Pac-12 ($75), Wisconsin-Nebraska in the Big Ten ($25), Florida State-Georgia Tech in the ACC ($3).” Meanwhile, ticket prices for the BCS Championship Game “continued to rise once Notre Dame secured its spot last Saturday,” with the average price on StubHub rising to “$1,596 from $1,209 a week ago” (AL.com, 11/26). YAHOO SPORTS’ Frank Schwab wrote interest in this weekend’s ACC Championship game between Georgia Tech and Florida State “isn't exactly at an all-time high.” It is “probably safe to say that good seats will be available” (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 11/26).

MOVING SLOWLY: In Charlotte, Erik Spanberg notes as of Friday morning “about 58,000 tickets have been sold at the 74,000-seat” Bank of America Stadium for the ACC Championship game. Those figures include “the 10,000 seats allotted to each school playing in the game.” Game operator Charlotte Collegiate Football Exec Dir Will Webb said, “If this is a hiccup year, I think it’s had a good run.” When asked about the lack of a sellout, he added, “I am disappointed.” But the ACC is “committed to playing the game” in Charlotte through ‘13 after “signing a two-year extension last December.” Next summer and fall, talks are “expected to begin on the championship’s future.” Webb and other Charlotte execs have “emphasized their wish to make this the permanent host city, much as Atlanta is" for the SEC title game. Charlotte Collegiate Football Accountant Mike Mistler said that the goal is “to break even on the ACC game” (CHARLOTTE BUSINESS JOURNAL, 11/23 issue).