Ticket Buying Strategy (Championship Game)?
Curious what everyone's strategy is for buying playoff tickets, more specifically for Houston.
Rose Bowl seemed so incredibly likely after beating Ohio that I risked it and got a ticket for about half of what they seem to be going for now.
Looking at SeatGeek, national championship tickets start at $1900 after fees but last week they were like $1200. Beating Alabama is obviously a much bigger task than Iowa so I'm reluctant to spend $2000 on a ticket now, but if I am also concerned that the prices may go even higher should I wait.
How is everyone else navigating this?
December 4th, 2023 at 3:25 PM ^
Seth posted about this before the semifinals last year and I pulled the trigger for tickets before the season started. It seems great to me, but I had to prepare myself that I will lose money if we don't make it.
EDIT: It looks like the right to buy tickets though this right now is pretty steep. I have no idea what the ticket market will be. Just wanted to share how I got mine (potentially) and tip the cap to Seth and MGoBlog for sharing it before.
December 4th, 2023 at 3:33 PM ^
If I'm reading that right it's $672 to enter and if we win it's another $450 (~$1150 total) but if we lose you're out $672?
Seems risky at this point since I could probably sell the $1900 ticket for less than a $700 loss.
December 4th, 2023 at 3:50 PM ^
That's my understanding (and when I jumped on it beginning of the year it was considerably less than this). I hadn't checked before posting so yes, it seems like it is a very risky prop but YMMV!
December 4th, 2023 at 7:20 PM ^
I think the proper way to compare costs is that if you think Michigan has a 50 percent chance of winning the Rose Bowl, then the difference between paying $1150 for a ticket on the open market and risking $700 for the right to purchase that ticket at that price is that you have a 50 percent chance of losing $700. This would make your expected cost for comparison purposes to be $1150 + (700 / 2) = $1500. The calculation should vary a bit depending on whatever the true odds for Michigan winning the first game since Michigan is favored, but probably not that much.
Whether this is appealing depends on your risk tolerance and desire to gamble. I was able to get this Friday morning before the Big Ten championship game at a much lower price point (but still debated because the price had gone up $60 from what it had been the previous days). I am glad I did this, but I would be more hesitant at the current prices.
December 4th, 2023 at 3:44 PM ^
If we win, you just got to hope Texas loses as far as ticket prices go. If Texas wins tix are going to go real high with the game in Houston. If UW wins I would think they'd come down from what they are now.
December 4th, 2023 at 3:50 PM ^
Yeah last year I was following tickets and after we lost the prices dropped insanely fast. Even if UW wins I think they have a large enough fan base that the prices won't collapse.
December 4th, 2023 at 5:12 PM ^
I lived in Seattle for 8 miserable years. I promise you, they do not have a large enough fan base that the prices won't collapse, when you consider that Texas winning is already baked into the prices -- I'm sure Texas fans are already scooping up title game tix.
December 4th, 2023 at 3:52 PM ^
If you have over 500 priority points, you will be able to put in a request through UM starting on Wednesday. The email that came today did not mention price or quantity limits.
December 4th, 2023 at 4:04 PM ^
Sadly I don't. I've been trying to get football/hockey season tickets for the last 2 years but I don't think it's ever going to happen.
Somewhat related, is there a waiting ticket for season tickets or is it pure luck? I once got an email that hockey tickets were available. I emailed the guy back in under 2 minutes saying I wanted them but he didn't respond. I was outside the country so couldn't call him but called a few days later and he said they were gone.
December 4th, 2023 at 5:09 PM ^
I track ticket prices over time on https://cfb-tickets.com/ to aid in optimal time to buy. For championship game tickets, the best time to buy was before the field was announced, but the next best time will be immediately after two of the 4 teams are eliminated and the losing teams' fans dump their tickets, and in the 24 hours before the game as urgency to sell rises (this will also be the most volatile window, as supply will be dwindling). There may be an occasional deal between now and the semi-final games, but you'll need to constantly monitor the markets to catch them.
We have an advantage playing in the earlier semi-final game, as the opponent's fan base will not have certainty in their status for a few hours after the Rose Bowl ends. Alabama fans were likely amongst the heaviest buyers when tickets first became available, so if Michigan wins there will be a lot of inventory available immediately after the Rose Bowl. Prices will dip again after the Sugar Bowl if and only if Washington wins. If Texas wins, prices will jump due to their proximity to the championship game location.
In short, don't buy today on the secondary market; prices are inflated. Buy either right after the Rose Bowl (or wait if Washington looks like they'll win the Sugar Bowl) or if you happen to spot an acceptable price in the next 4 weeks.
December 4th, 2023 at 6:12 PM ^
I think this is the winning strategy.
I got pretty "lucky" on tickets for The Game this year. I bought the day before and got them when they hit close to "bottom" and got a seat 26 rows back on the 5 yard line for like $450. The next morning I couldn't find anything for under $800.
December 4th, 2023 at 6:29 PM ^
Very good info. Thank you.
I booked my Houston hotel reservations yesterday and was surprised at how reasonable the price was for a decent hotel within walking distance of the stadium.
December 5th, 2023 at 12:54 PM ^
Just a heads up that the area around NRG Stadium is pretty rough, which is why the prices for hotels around there shouldn't be too bad. Most will want to stay in downtown/midtown Houston.
December 4th, 2023 at 5:13 PM ^
My strategy will be to wait until the day of the game since I live only an hour from the Rose Bowl to see if I can score a much less expensive ticket than what is available today.
Initially, I was really excited about getting a ticket, but with the reality of the current high ticket costs plus parking plus sitting around during the interminable number of TV commercials plus (let's face it, our old friend BPONE) our history of blowing it in Bowl games has me leaning towards watching at home with all its comforts and affordability. My joy if we win won't be diluted by being at home to watch it, but my BPONE will be mitigated if I'm not spending $500+ in the process of being BPONEd. I think all-in my threshold is $250.
Oh. I see, this is for the CHAMPIONSHIP GAME. My bad!
December 4th, 2023 at 6:14 PM ^
I'm a bit further away than you (Paso Robles) but I'm willing to run the risk of disappointment so I snatched tickets as soon as we beat Ohio. I've only been to the stadium once for a UCLA-Oregon State game back when I was a college student (UCLA alum).
In case anyone thinks my interests might be in the wrong place once my alma mater joins the Big 10 - fuck the Bruins. I hope Michigan beats them by 100 every time. I can't help that I was born in California and UCLA/UM are quite similar in terms of academic prestige. It just didn't make sense for me to spend 5 times as much money to try to go to UM. Now that I'm older I'm not sure that was the right decision, but it's not like I went to ohio.