Ticket Guidance

If last year is any indication this is just about the worst time to buy.  It was substantially cheaper for those who waited.

Tickets usually collapse in price as game time approaches, but it doesn't create much security for the buyer. 

Scalp around game time.  You will get significantly better seats at a better price.  Just need to tailgate, chill and be patient.  You will get them, and they will be one hell of a lot less than you have to pay now.

I was in your shoes one year ago--never been to a bowl game (let alone CFP), no insider access myself, and wondering how to proceed. Others will chime in with much more knowledge and experience than me but here's my take:

1. Use https://www.ticketiq.com/ to monitor the secondary market. IMHO they are much better than Stubhub et. al. bc they list bottom line prices up front rather than burying the ridiculous add-on fees in the fine print after half a dozen data entry screens.

2. Like last year, Michigan's opponent's fan base will show up in droves (UGA was close-ish to Miami and TCU fans are over the moon about making the CFP), and Michigan fans always do too for big games like this. So you're unlikely to find 'cheap' tickets per se (which I assume you already know), but prices do moderate some as the weeks progress. We waited until a week or so before the Orange Bowl last year and tickets were in the ~$250 range. Earlier on after the CFP matchups were first announced they were half again more than that at least.

3. Take your time, be patient with the process, and know what you're looking for in terms of price and/or seat location so you can push Go when you find it. I suspect that in most of these NFL stadiums the seats almost all have good to excellent views. We sat pretty high up above one of the end zones at the Orange Bowl with a great view of the action. I'm glad that we didn't spend a lot more money for 'better' seats above one of the benches.

Good luck and Go Blue!

Hopefully mods sticky this thread.

Since you live close it's easier to wait until closer to the game. Where as those of us that are flying in want the security of knowing that we have tickets before buying plane tickets and hotel reservations. 

Agree this is a totally different dynamic than for the Orange Bowl last year when prices jumped with relatively little inventory right after the selection show but did decline in the following weeks. I know this too well having bought at peak.

This year, the official ticket vendor is SeatGeek, and as of right now (4 pm ET on Sunday), there are still quite a few seats (lower end zone and across swaths of the upper level) that are still on SeatGeek at what looks like face price (you can tell by the pricing that is consistent and related to location for large blocks of seats that these are not being sold by individuals). Because so many seat are still available at face, I am guessing that there won't necessarily be a huge firesale on secondary market tickets, so if these locations are fine, I would go ahead and get them. The only reason to wait, I think, is if you want better seats and hope these will be dumped at lower prices later.

I had gone ahead and purchased 10 yard line seats behind the Michigan bench a few days ago at "face," and these tickets are no longer available. While the plan was to resell them if we ended up in Atlanta, looking at the current market dynamics, I doubt I would have been able to recoup my total costs (including the significant fees both ways). Last year, if I had bought Orange Bowl tickets before the selection show, it would have been much likelier to recoup costs with fees selling them right after the selection show.

Does anyone know what sections were part of the UM ticket allocation?

Wow, just checked SeatGeek now (8:30 am), and there a lot fewer of those fixed-price seats. Hardly any left in the lower level, and a lot fewer in the upper level. There were a lot late last night. I almost wonder if brokers bought a lot vs fans.