Notre Dame BCS Tickets Hard To Come By; Success Leading to Marketing Boon

Single-game tickets to see the Univ. of Notre Dame play in the BCS National Championship game on Jan. 7 in Miami "are being offered for $1,400 and higher on StubHub and other ticket websites," according to Margaret Fosmoe of the SOUTH BEND TRIBUNE. If fans are "in the market for a suite at the game," there is one "available for $112,500 through the BCS official ticket exchange." The phones are "ringing off the wall and e-mailed requests are arriving fast and furious" this week in the Notre Dame athletic ticket office. The ticket office this week "received more than 5,000 e-mail inquiries about tickets in a 60-hour span." Ticket office employees "answered more than 2,500 phone calls on Monday." Notre Dame, which has a bowl ticket lottery, will "receive an allotment of 17,000 tickets to the game." The ticket office by yesterday morning "already had received applications for more than 40,000 tickets." There will be no sales to the general public "because of overwhelming demand." Notre Dame Senior Assistant AD/Guest Relations & Event Marketing Josh Berlo said, "There isn't a stadium big enough in the country to accommodate just the Notre Dame constituents that would like to attend" (SOUTH BEND TRIBUNE, 11/28).

WORTH THEIR WEIGHT IN GOLD: In N.Y., Greg Bishop wrote this season "proved that when the Fighting Irish win, more casual fans watch, more interested parties buy and more companies sponsor." This "marked the highest average viewers for NBC’s Notre Dame home games since 2005 and its highest household rating" since '06. Horizon Media Senior VP/Research Brad Adgate said that the average audience for away games "rose by 51 percent." Fanatics.com on Nov. 18 had Notre Dame ranked "as the top-selling team for the year, the week and the day." Of the "yearly purchases, 93 percent were made outside Indiana -- all 50 states were represented -- and 23 percent were made by women." In Q1 sales figures from the Collegiate Licensing Company, "the Fighting Irish jumped from 10th to sixth." The "spoils of success will also extend beyond this season." IMG College, Notre Dame’s multimedia rights partner, said that the "university’s radio network had already secured about 50 commitments from sponsors for next season." That is "double the current number" (N.Y. TIMES, 11/24).