College Football Championship ticket prices could become most expensive in history

It’s shaping up to be an expensive ticket to attend the College Football Playoff National Championship in New Orleans when the Clemson Tigers will attempt to defend their national title against No. 1 Louisiana State University on Monday, Jan. 13, 2020.

According to resale data from ticket platform SeatGeek, this year’s championship is pacing to be the second-most expensive on record since the College Football Playoff format was introduced in 2015.

As of Monday, the average resale price listed for a ticket was $2,174. That’s about $400 cheaper than the price tickets were listed for leading up to the 2018 matchup between the Georgia Bulldogs and the Alabama Crimson Tide, but a huge premium compared to last year’s championship between Alabama and Clemson.

LSU fans are pushing this year's College Football Championship prices higher. Tickets to the game, which is set to be played in New Orleans, are listed at an average resale price of about $2,174.
LSU fans are pushing this year's College Football Championship prices higher. Tickets to the game, which is set to be played in New Orleans, are listed at an average resale price of about $2,174.

If resale prices tick slightly higher in the weeks leading up to the game it will surpass the most expensive. Demand for tickets to this year’s matchup is getting a boost by the fact that LSU’s fanbase is closer to New Orleans than the distance Alabama or Clemson fans had to travel last year to get to Levi’s Stadium, which is located outside of San Francisco. The relatively shorter travel distance Alabama and Georgia fans enjoyed in 2018, when the game was held in Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium, helped push ticket prices to a record high of $2,587 just 14 days ahead of the game.

However, prices might have been hurt by the fact that Clemson will be in the championship for the second year in a row. SeatGeek says ticket prices dropped by about an average of 18% after Clemson defeated Ohio State to earn its place back in the title game, hinting that an OSU matchup with LSU might have been a duel that could’ve made history as the most expensive championship in history.

That said, resale ticket prices have a tendency to fall as the date of the event gets closer in time, as resellers get nervous about taking losses on unused tickets. Whether demand for tickets continues to outpace supply will ultimately determine if the average resale ticket price is able to hit a record come kickoff time.

Zack Guzman is the host of YFi PM as well as a senior writer and on-air reporter covering entrepreneurship, cannabis, startups, and breaking news at Yahoo Finance. Follow him on Twitter @zGuz.

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