MINNEAPOLIS — History will be made at the Final Four on Monday night, and a ticket inside US Bank Stadium might still be cheaper than most fans realize.
Both remaining teams, Texas Tech and Virginia, are seeking their first ever men’s basketball national title, but on Sunday ticket supply was still greater than demand.
That was great news for Sean Campbell, a Texas Tech grad who now lives in Plymouth. Campbell watched the national semi-final games at home on Saturday because prices were too high.
"I looked at tickets to take my two sons, and I think it was $350 per seat, for the highest sections,” Campbell said.
But Campbell searched online ticket retailers again on Sunday morning, and discovered many more tickets for much more reasonable prices.
For most of the day the cheapest tickets on StubHub hovered around $90 or less for the upper sections.
“I paid about $200 for a lower level seat along the baseline,” Campbell said. "I'm going for the experience. If I'm in the stadium that's more important than how good I can see or whatever. I feel like I would be crazy to miss it, given that it's in our backyard."
The drop in ticket prices is largely driven by a large number of Michigan State and Auburn fans now looking to sell after their teams lost.
"I think our husbands want to go to the game but my friend and I that came, I think we're going to sell our tickets,” said Jennifer Todd, an Auburn fan who says it’s not the same now that her Tigers are out of it. “I'd rather shop than go to the game."
"Some Michigan State fans just passing me on the street, and just asked if I needed some extra tickets,” Campbell said. “I said, ‘Sorry for your loss and I've already got a ticket.’”
According to StubHub, the deals on Sunday were among the best they’ve seen for recent title games.
"Being able to get in for a Final Four Championship game for around $100 is actually a really great opportunity,” said Jill Krimmel, General Manager of NCAA for StubHub.
Krimmel says she doesn’t expect those low prices to last as the tipoff nears, especially because of the amount of local interest.
"What we've actually seen has been interesting, Minnesota fans have actually shown up for these games,” Krimmel said. “We've seen about 25 percent of people actually coming from Minnesota, so we could see those prices increase as we go into tomorrow night."
Sean says he didn’t want to wait around and play that price game.
"You never know, is it going to go up or is it going to go down?” he said. “If they go down I will be devastated so I'll probably just go with what I got and be happy that I got it, and enjoy the experience."