Scalping Environment in Atlanta/Final Four

Submitted by Vader on

 

I know there are some Atlanta residents and Final Four veterans out there. I know about the 2,700 ft restriction for scalping near the Georgia Dome, but is there anything else I should know about scalping in the area?

Also, should one decide to drive into Georgia and scalp tickets on the day of, what ticket prices in general should be expected for the Final Four? Would they go down dramitically if you wait until right before tip or will they all be sold? I know this all depends on what teams are playing and what city it's in so any insight in this area would also be appreciated.

Johnnybee123

April 2nd, 2013 at 11:00 AM ^

I'm in the same boat (considering driving down).  My thinking is that three of the four teams in the Final Four are either (a) teams with a large enough fan base to support high secondary market ticket prices or (b) teams that are close enough to justify a drive down, even if it's just for the final game.  I don't expect the prices to drop much below the $200 a ticket range, or $500-600 for all three (for the cheap seats).  I also don't expect ticket prices to drop from the semis to the finals.

kakusei

April 2nd, 2013 at 11:04 AM ^

hey man - i was at the ATL Final Four in 2007 - tickets/scalpers were fairly easy to comeby right up until tipoff, though the price didn't seem to drop dramatically (though that could just be my personal experience). also - it looks like the whole stadium is open for seating this year (in 07 they split the stadium in half), so there should be many more seats available. - who knows maybe even tickets would be available at the box office? 

if prices don't seem to come down or if you're having difficulty finding scalpers, i'd suggest getting the stubhub app on your phone. for these big events, stubhub usually has a temporary office set up very close to the venue. keep an eye on stubhub, especially about 2 hours before tip time - the prices will just start plummeting.  i was able to get a superbowl ticket for below face this way. purchase the ticket on the phone, and you can pick up from the temp office.

if you are just looking to go to the national championship game (obviously contigent upon Michigan winning), hang outside the stadium after the semi-final games and look for dejected syracuse / loser of Louisville-Wichita State fans - they will practically give the tickets away for free.  I scored some pretty sweet Elite 8 tickets in 07 this way after Georgetown beat Vandy and I found some Vandy fans on the way out that wanted to get rid of their elite 8 tickets.

Niels

April 2nd, 2013 at 11:02 AM ^

If you are willing to take a chance, I would see if you get lucky on a Sat ticket (maybe after the first game starts and then, if UM wins, buy a ticket for Mon from a Syracuse fan. They travel well and I would imagine will be willing to sell at that point. I would suggest not wearing UM clothes when trying to attempt the transaction to save some $$$. Pretending to be a Louisville fan might save you even more assuming UL wins.

 

MI Expat NY

April 2nd, 2013 at 11:18 AM ^

Might be overthinking it on what not to wear to purchase championship game tickets.  If your team just lost, you want to sell your Monday ticket to whoever and get the hell out of town.  Plus, Syracuse fans are well versed in the drill as the same thing happens at the Big East Tournament.  

If we win, a ticket for Monday will be fiarly easy to come by.  

Edit:  Just saw the posts below about paperless... that significantly changes the calculus.  Still can probably get tickets, but might not be any point in trying to show up at the Georgia Dome to purchase from fleeing fans of the losing teams.

Big T

April 2nd, 2013 at 11:07 AM ^

I am in the same boat, looking for 2-4 tix for Saturday. I think one big issue is that the NCAA sold "paperless" tickets for much of the stadium. The tickets are tied to the credit card used to purchase them. The only way to transfer them is through Flash Seats or the NCAA's official online marketplace at PrimeSports.com. That is why there is nothing on Stubhub - there are few actual paper tickets and you can't transfer the paperless onces via Stubhub. It seems like a major crackdown on the secondary market.

I have been monitoring PrimeSport. Ticket prices have risen since Sunday. I am not sure what to do. On the one hand, there are tons of tickets still listed on PrimeSport, but on the other hand, prices haven't fallen. I'm also somewhat skeptical that there will be lots of paper tickets being scalped since it doesn't look like many exist, particularly for the 300-level.

copacetic

April 2nd, 2013 at 11:09 AM ^

One thing to be wary of is that it seems like a lot of the resale for tickets is being done online paperlessly. Don't know how that will affect the supply of hard copy tickets outside of the stadium. I'm sure there will be lots, but maybe not as much as usual?



I just bought mine online, and I guess I just swipe my credit card at the gate for my tickets.



Also I think the tickets for the Saturday games are single admission for both games.



If you go to primesport.com, the official resale site from the ncaa, you can get tickets for all 3 games for about $300 after fees if you don't mind being far away

Big T

April 2nd, 2013 at 11:12 AM ^

Did you buy through PrimeSport? I am thinking about pulling the trigger but I am curious if you can sell the Monday portion of your ticket through PrimeSport? I can only make it on Saturday and would like to offset part of the ticket price by buying the full strip and then listing the Monday ticket for sale. I can't tell if you can do that on PrimeSport or not.

copacetic

April 2nd, 2013 at 11:25 AM ^

Primesport transfers the tickets to you on flashseats.com. Once I logged into flashseats it showed the Saturday and Monday as two seperate events, and each has a seperate transfer button next to it. Even though I bought it all in one purchase on primesport.



You would just have to get someone to make an account on flashseats so you can transfer Monday to them.



*edit: If you can get to the site on your phone, maybe people could still buy and sell outside the stadium. Hand over some cash and then exchange emails for flashseats accounts on your smartphones? Oh technology...

Tommy Want Wingy

April 2nd, 2013 at 12:16 PM ^

Not quite sure how scalping will work after the game, but I would keep an eye on primesport. eBay prices are outrageous right now, and I got lucky earlier today and logged on right as two $180 dollar tickets got posted. With "convenience" fees and whatnot they ended up being $450, but I have consistently seen people selling for $200 a pop for both sessions on there, just be vigilant.

MGoPony

April 2nd, 2013 at 12:45 PM ^

I cant speak for the Final Four, per se, but I went to Dallas and attempted to scalp for the Sweet Sixteen.

I am a long time scalper for football tickets and have ALWAYS been able to find a better price scalping than anywhere else.

In Dallas I expected it to be easy: only one close fan base (Kansas, still 10 hr drive away) and 3 fan bases quite far away, with FGCU being a tiny school. Add to that the fact that tickets werent even sold out through the official NCAA site, I figured waiting til tip off should net me great seats under $100. All the factors you look for to indicate likely cheap tickets were in my favor.

Reality was cruel; basically no tailgating was taking place. People just showed up and walked directly in; very little scalping, very little selling. What was available was through the 'professional' scalpers, and demand far exceeded their supply. They were often asking 2 to 3x as much as face.

In the end the tickets just werent there; I had to buy a ticket last minute from the window (STILL not sold out) and got a mediocre seat for a high price.

 

TL;DR I went in expecting a great deal, came away paying more than I would've online. Would not recommend scalping.

1989 UM GRAD

April 2nd, 2013 at 1:00 PM ^

StubHub had tickets for $3 for Sunday's game...as of Saturday night.  Even the best tickets were going for under $100.  Assuming this was Kansas fans dumping their tickets and scalpers being left in a low-demand environment.

I'm hoping the same thing holds true for next Monday...assuming we're still playing.

Caveats of paperless ticketing, more excitement for a championship game than a regional final, etc.

Mercury

April 2nd, 2013 at 1:33 PM ^

I live a few hours away in Birmingham, and debated whether to try and scalp tix when i got to ATL, or pay an arm and a leg now, to make sure I don't miss out.

Eventually ,I ended up deciding to go through Stubhub and just pay my pound of flesh and get it over with.

I'm close enough so that I could even drive home and sleep in my own bed, if I really needed to keep the total costs down a bit.

 

skwasha

April 2nd, 2013 at 1:53 PM ^

Not exactly scalping related... but the Alumni Tour now lists limited ticket availability with their package. *BUT* They don't say where the seats are. Anyone know?

itsgr82bmw

April 2nd, 2013 at 6:22 PM ^

 

Conlin Travel about two hours ago.  I booked a tour immediately after Sunday's game and by the time I filled out the information fields the land tours with game tickets were sold out.  So I booked a tour without tickets.  Later Sunday I bought 2 tickets through PrimeSport in Sec. 328, Row 3.

When I spoke to Conlin today they said they had received the additional allotment from the athletic dept. and they are in the 100 and 200 levels.  I assume they are in the same sections as the allotment made available to season ticket holders or at least with the rest of the alumni tour participants (although I did not ask).

In any case, she let me add 2 tickets to my tour.  So now I have these 2 seats in Sec. 328, Row 3 that I may no longer need.  They are paperless tickets and are managed through my FlashSeats account.  If anyone is interested in these seats I can be contacted at drysermw[at]att[dot]net.

AsianInvasion

April 2nd, 2013 at 2:27 PM ^

Just got four tickets in (100 or 200 section, TBD on site) for $1,712 from Wichita St Ticket Office.  Had to make $500 donation ($300 per ticket) plus processing fees.

316-978-3267

 

bforster

April 3rd, 2013 at 11:42 AM ^

(Longtime viewer, only secondtime commenter)

Alas I snoozed and lost -- I just called and the Shockers' ticket office voice greeting says their Final Four allotment is sold out.  Great idea, though.

Just curious:  What was face value on those tickets?  Knowing face may dictate the "buy now or try to wait it out" decision for us.

yoshfriedman

April 2nd, 2013 at 5:52 PM ^

FWIW, I wouldn't risk scalping in Atlanta/around the stadium. My current roommate and long-time friend is an Emory grad and said that throughout college, he and several of his friends would try to scalp tickets to any number of events (concerts, SEC Championships, Falcons games, Hawks games, etc.) and he ballparked it around 75% of the time the tickets were photocopied or just outright fake, and most people ended up getting swindled.

That being said, the ball's been rolling for us, so maybe let it ride? I got my tickets on Razor Gator, pretty high up but about market price all things considered. And we're road tripping from NYC.