September 3, 2015
The Ol’ Ball Coach is not happy. As the South Carolina Gamecocks are set to open the season against the North Carolina Tar Heels at Bank of America Stadium Thursday night. one of Steve Spurrier’s biggest quips is with the ticket prices. During a weekly radio interview earlier in the week, Spurrier commented on the price of tickets for the season opening game. While noting the ticket his wife received was listed at a face value of $257, Spurrier noted those were “Super Bowl prices.” While that isn’t exactly true, Spurrier is not wrong in saying face value for the game’s tickets might be too expensive.
The Charlotte Sports Foundation is expecting between 50,000 to 55,000 tickets will be sold for Thursday night’s game, leaving close to 20,000 open seats at the 73,298 capacity stadium. Ticket prices set by the game’s organizing committee start at $70 at face value and range up to $258 for club seats. Despite the game being played in close proximity to both schools, the demand has not quite been there. On the secondary market, tickets are being listed well below face value. The current get-in price for South Carolina vs North Carolina tickets is $54.
At a $143.29 average, the game is just above South Carolina’s regular season average of $139.55 at Williams-Brice Stadium. However, games against premier opponents such as LSU, Florida and Clemson are well above that mark. The Gamecocks’ most expensive game will be against the Tigers of Clemson on November 11 as South Carolina vs Clemson tickets have an average price of $214.49 with a get-in price of $86.
Both North Carolina and South Carolina reportedly sold out their 12,500 ticket allotment, which is half of the expected attendance. With the natural geographic rivalry of the two schools, the matchup could become a more common occurrence. Without recent history -- the schools have played only twice since 1991 -- lower priced tickets might be what’s needed to initially bring the expected demand to this matchup.
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