The Art and Science of Buying a Ticket to the NCAA Tourney

Mar 24, 2013; Dayton, OH, USA; Ohio State Buckeyes guard Aaron Craft (4) brings the ball up court across the NCAA logo in a game against the Iowa State Cyclones during the third round of the 2013 NCAA tournament at University of Dayton Arena. Ohio State defeats Iowa State 78-75. Mandatory Credit: Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports

Spokane has been lucky enough to host regional games for both the NCAA Men’s teams and the NCAA Women’s teams at the Spokane Arena. Because we are a smaller sized city, it is usually easy to get a ticket to major events like the NCAA games, major musical acts (Bon Jovi, Jason Aldeane), Best of Broadway theater performances (Wicked, the Book of Mormon) and the like. Less easy to get a ticket to a Gonzaga Men’s basketball game but tickets to the women’s games are certainly within the realm. The lady Zags and their coach, Kelly Graves definitely appreciate playing to a crowded McCarthy Athletic Center. The men always play to a sold out crowd, it is a foregone conclusion.

Last March, when the NCAA Women’s regional games were in town, TicketsWest, the local ticket vendor for all games at the Spokane Arena offered a teaser promotion. Attend women’s games and get on the list for notification for early sales of tickets for the 2014 Men’s games in June of 2013. How easy was that? So I obliged and attended the women’s games.

The date in June, 2013 rolled around so, like all my ticket purchases, I went online to the TicketsWest website to buy my 2014 Men’s tourney tickets. The only seats left were the 200 level seats, which aren’t optimum for basketball viewing (compared to my ginormous TV, my yardstick measure.) I called TicketsWest to talk to a real human being because I couldn’t believe all of the 100 level seats were spoken for even with sections reserved for fans of the actual teams playing, the marching band, the media and other VIP’s in June for what was supposed to be the presale. The ticketing agent assured me that yes, the best seats available in June of 2013 for games in March of 2014 were in the 200 level. I wasn’t willing to part with $200+ for tickets to all of the games, allowing TicketsWest to effectively use my money for the next nine months. The time value of money. My college finance professor would be proud of me.

So, I decided to roll the dice and take my chances, even if it meant buying tickets curbside from a scalper. In Washington State, my law enforcement friends tell me, it is not illegal to buy a ticket on the curb from a scalper, however, it is illegal to charge more than the face value of the ticket. I saw lots of opportunities to buy tickets on the day of the game, as I was in line to enter the Spokane arena for the Session 2 games I attended. Those with a wrist band were permitted to stay inside the Arena during the change over from Session 1 to Session 2 games. Lucky for them. I’m not accustomed to waiting in line in Spokane. That’s not how we roll in this community and why we live here, because we don’t have to wait in line for anything.

Not willing to leave my ability to attend the games to the random chance I could find a 100 level seat curbside in the hours before the game started, I entered the online world of ticket scalping where a fool and their money are soon parted.

The price fluctuations were wild, which included the NCAA fan “experience” for $600. Lot of choices, lots of vendors to choose from including a link from the NCAA’s website itself to a legitimate exchange for buyers and sellers of bonafide NCAA game tickets offered for a premium. The fan experience included a pregame pre-function somewhere at the venue with snacks and a no host bar. I’m still not sure where this occurred in the Spokane arena this occurred because I opted out of choosing this “experience.”

I settled on StubHub and plunked down $129.95 for what turned out to be a $70 face value of the ticket Section 123 seat, behind and to the side of the backboard and hopefully behind the Pep band. My seat, as it turned out was in the last row of Section 123, well behind the band and the view, not so bad. Better than the 200 level seats without the fear of falling that accompanies that level for me.

The ticket was legit and delivered by UPS 2nd day air two days before the date of the game. Props to StubHub. They delivered and it was worth the $50 premium for the peace of mind knowing I was, in fact, going to attend the games.

The games were well attended, though the first game of session 2 was 10 minutes underway when I arrived after the long line and requisite purse check outside the Arena. Fans continued to trickle in and the seats slowly filled up by the end of the first half. This wasn’t the greatest fan experience or respectful of the players for North Dakota State and Oklahoma. Fortunately, the North Dakota State fan section was filled to the gills, their booster buses along the same curbside where my line was located outside the arena, so NDSU wasn’t lacking for cheering firepower.

I was glad to have my own self-created NCAA fan experience, purchased on my terms including my own $4.00 tub of popcorn that I didn’t have to scrum for. Though the sole WCC survivor Gonzaga got knocked out in the third round by Arizona, (BYU the second WCC team in the tourney lost their first round game) it is tremendous for Spokane to be a regular stop as host for NCAA games.
Perhaps the next time the NCAA returns to town, I will have enough courage to roll the dice and purchase a day of game ticket curbside – 100 level, of course.