2017 National Championship Game Tickets At All-Time High: TicketIQ

TAMPA, FL – Fans of Alabama and Clemson still looking for tickets to the 2016-17 College Football Playoff National Championship Game will have to pay record amounts to get into Raymond James Stadium, according to one online retailer.

Jesse Lawrence, the founder and CEO of TicketIQ, said his company’s analytics show prices for the Monday, Jan. 9 game in Tampa already are averaging more than $3,300 per ticket as of 4:30 p.m. Eastern on Wednesday, Jan. 4. That’s up from an average of $2,475 per ticket the previous evening.

Even before the semifinals were played, Lawrence predicted this year’s game would be the most expensive championship in the playoff era – which began two years ago – and an Alabama/Clemson rematch would bring historic highs.

According to Lawrence, supply and demand are driving the ticket prices this year: “Low supply that’s being held back by the schools and high demand because (Tampa is) so close to both locations.”

By contrast, tickets on the secondary market for the 2015-16 National Championship Game in Glendale, Ariz., between the same two teams only averaged $610. And while tickets to this year’s game nearly doubled since Dec. 31, last year’s game saw prices slowly decline over the same four-day period.

According to TicketIQ, the average distance from Clemson, S.C., and Tuscaloosa, Ala., to Tampa is 583 miles. When the same two teams met last year, the average distance from the two cities to Glendale was 1,999 miles.

The sharp jump in ticket prices over the past 24 hours is mostly being driven by very few tickets remaining in the stadium’s lower level and less than 2,000 seats in all remaining, Lawrence said.

“Team allocations are being freed up (on Wednesday, Jan. 5), but it’s unclear how much supply that will add,” he said.

Tickets for the 2016-17 National Championship Game have also surpassed the 2011 BCS National Championship Game, which was the first year TicketIQ began tracking statistics. Resale tickets for that game, which saw Auburn beat Oregon in Glendale, maxed out at an average of $2,992.

Lawrence noted that the numbers suggests Alabama fans aren’t slowing down despite being on the road quite a bit this season.

“Alabama travels very well, but they’ve been doing a lot of traveling lately, so the fact demand hasn’t dropped says a lot about their commitment,” he said.

For real-time updates of the current secondary market for the 2016-17 National Championship Game, visit https://www.tiqiq.com/ncaa/college-football-championship-game-tickets.

Beware of scammers when looking for National Championship Game tickets

With the ticket prices as high and as scarce as they are, Lawrence suggested several ways for fans to avoid scams while looking for tickets to the National Championship Game.

• Always use a reputable website that offers a money-back guarantee.
  "We work directly with brokers (as does Stubhub and others) as well as with big marketplaces, like the NFL Ticket Exchange and the official college football championship ticket exchange,” he said.
• Don’t use anonymous sites like Craigslist.
  “If you do, do some research on the buyer in social media, and even ask them to send a Facebook or LinkedIn page,” Lawrence said. “If the deal seems too good, it probably is.”
  The Tampa Police Department echoed Lawrence’s advice about private sellers.
  “Fans who are buying from private sellers should arrange to meet at a police department or public place where there are surveillance cameras,” the agency suggested last week.
• Get your tickets sooner rather than later.
  “Track prices in the area where you want to sit and don’t wait if you see a ticket you like,” Lawrence said. “It’s not likely prices will go down from here until the game.”

Graphics courtesy of TicketIQ

Image via thatlostdog--, Flickr, used under Creative Commons