Most expensive CFB games of 2014
Top 10 lists from a site called collegespun, which I don't know much about. But it's based on current stubhub prices, so not a difficult analysis. Two lists, one for the entire county and one for the B1G.
http://collegespun.com/independents/notre-dame/the-10-most-expensive-college-football-games-of-2014
http://collegespun.com/independents/notre-dame/the-10-most-expensive-big-ten-football-games-of-2014
Michigan-Notre Dame is the most expensive game anywhere next year, by a long shot: at $428 it's more than $100 above the next most expensive game (the Iron Bowl), while The Game comes in #4 at $307.
For B1G games, Michigan and Ohio State dominate the list. Highlights are #9 at Sparty for $153, #6 hosting PSU for $159, and the aforementioned ND and Ohio games, which are #2 and #1 on the B1G list, respectively.
For two tickets to the Notre Dame game, and travel expenses, I could buy a new 60" LED TV and invite friends over to watch, and still have money left over for food and drink. And the best part is, I wouldn't have to deal with the annoyingly polite Fighting Irish fans in South Bend.
My first trip to South Bend was my sophomore year. While in full Maize and Blue and walking with four other M fans through the tailgating area outside the stadium, I heard this...
"Hey, Fuck You Guys! Now, come have a beer on us!"
Spent an hour drinking with a group of 15 ND fans that we hadn't met until then. Knowledgable and good people. I'm probably in the minority here, but I really enjoy talking football with ND fans (maybe because we're both a little irrational when it comes to our programs) compared to other fanbases. Nevertheless, to hell with Notre Dame, and their scared athletic department.
I was at THE Denard game and was tailgating w/ a mix of M and ND fans. I went to the port-o-john and was 20 deep. I was NOT gonna make it. The Domer behind me gave me a $50 and told me to offer it to the girl at the front of the line. I did and cut and pissed like a racehorse. I tried to get his info to pay him back but he refused. Nice guy. Saved me real embarrassment.
Personally I favor Frightened Irish.
If you took average alumni income/net worth into account, the M/ND game makes a lot of sense and the Iron Bowl shows people from Alabama have questionable spending habits.
Michigan/ND alum: "I'm taking a month off from contributing to my 529 plan to buy tickets to this game."
Alabama/Auburn alum: "Five twenty who?" Rolllllll Tiiiiiiide!
I went over to StubHub to check out Michigan-ND for myself to see what the range of prices actually is, and indeed, $428.50 is the lowest right now - and that's upper level, section 101, which I believe is just beneath one of the scoreboards. If you want Section 1 in the lower level, that's a $478.00 ticket right now. Lower level corner sections are going anywhere from $530-$600 or so per seat, and the few seats left in upper level sideline sections are close to $1,000 in individual cases.
Notre Dame has a strict no resale for more than face value policy which it actually makes efforts to enforce. Some alums have lost their right to buy tickets because of violations of the policy. This deters many potential sellers from participating in the resale market, thus reducing supply and driving up the cost for those that are made available.
But as stubhub, ebay, craigslist suggest it is not being enforced.
Notre Dame Athletic Department will occasionally buy tickets from Stubhub, ebay etc to identify whose tickets they are and then revoke rights.
Maybe the "big 2 little 8" should be changed to "big 2 and little 12." Only two of those top 10 most expensive Big Ten games are games not including Michigan or Ohio State, and those rank at #6 and #10.
I am guessing that those tix won't fetch those prices on gameday unless both teams in the game are in the running for a playoff berth.
Shhhhh. Don't tell DB. He'll turn season tickets into a 2-year season requirement. Given how shitty the schedule is everey other year, he'll see this as a way to force you to buy season tickets for those bad years if you want to get them for the good years.
This is as opposed to actually fixing the schedule. If he can get money out of you without actually giving you anything worthwhile, he will . . . seat cushions, water bottles, PSLs, etc. Don't put it past him.
I know they have a crazed fan base, but no way would I would pay that when I can watch it at home and not endure the long TV timeouts.
I see this argument a lot, but those things aren't really comparable. Sure, if the only thing you are interested in is the on-field play, then of course watching at home is the better deal. But then why would anyone, ever, go to any sporting event?
If you don't like being at sporting events, then of course they're a bad deal. But it blows my mind how many people say, "why would I want to watch Michigan play live in person when I can sit inside and watch it on a TV."