How & When To Buy College Football National Championship Tickets

College Football Championship Game Tickets Least Expensive in 6 Seasons

(Update 1/6) It might be the biggest game of the college football season, but ticket demand isn’t quite living up to the hype. While secondary market tickets for the College Football Championship Game are the most expensive for any college game this season, it’s on pace to be the least expensive since TicketIQ started keeping track of data with the 2011 game.

The current average price for the Clemson-Alabama matchup already has the least expensive average price TicketIQ has tracked over the past six title games. At the current average of $907.20, the game is just cents below the 2013-14 championship game between the Auburn Tigers and Florida State Seminoles which had an average of $907.48.

This year’s get-in price, however, greatly supasses the cheapest ticket available on the secondary market last year. Despite the dropping average, the get-in price for this year’s national championship game is $404. That more than double 2014’s get-in price of $198. In fact, it’s also above the get-in price for last year’s game between Oregon and Ohio State of $375.

The game is also clearly and easily the least expensive of the past Alabama appearances in the title game. Both Alabama’s meeting with the LSU Tigers and Notre Dame Fighting Irish brought over a $2,000 average on the secondary market and the cheapest ticket between those two games was $849, more than double this year’s average.

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Still there’s just under a week for both of these prices to drop, which has been the case since the matchup was decided with the two playoff games on New Year’s Eve. There’s been a steady decline in the price since even before the playoff games kicked off and it wouldn’t be a surprise to see the price continue to drop until kickoff to previously unseen lows. That could make it even better for last minute ticket buyers wanting the lowest possible prices.

The new College Football Championship Game is a different type of beast for tickets with a few different options for purchasing. There’s of course still the secondary market, which will see prices flow with the matchup pending the results of the two semifinal games. It’s safe to expect a more expensive ticket for a matchup that involves Alabama than one that features Michigan State.

With less time between the semifinals and the title game, there’s also less time for secondary market prices to drop. However that won’t stop the prices from still dropping. Last year College Football Championship Game tickets dropped 27.9% from the ending of the Sugar Bowl on New Year’s Day to the game’s kickoff on January 12. That’s a similar time frame and price drop between the matchup announcement of the semifinals and the start of bowl season.

For face value tickets, TeamTix gives fans a unique opportunity to claim them, but with a catch. Fans can pay a market price to reserve face value tickets for the College Football Championship Game. That market price depends both on the likelihood of the team advancing to the game and the section of the stadium the seats are located. However, that reserve price is non-refundable and will still be paid if the team does not make the title game.

Tickets at the 400 level currently have a face price of $450. Reserve prices for those seats are as follows: Clemson for $170, Alabama for $170, Michigan State for $124 and Oklahoma for $70. Below is a graph that shows the current market price for the total TeamTix costs for all teams (reserve price plus face value) against the current get-in price on the secondary market.

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For the 100-level in the corner and end zone, the face price for tickets is $550. Reserve prices for each team are also more expensive with the following prices: $260 for Clemson, $235 for Alabama, $180 for Michigan State and $160 for Oklahoma. At the moment all of those reserve prices present a better deal for the fan than the current average price on the secondary market. Here’s how those match up:

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There’s certainly a risk in reserving tickets, even for the heavy favorites. At no point last year was Ohio State seen as a legitimate threat to Alabama in the Sugar Bowl, but not only did the Buckeyes win the game, they eventually won the National Championship.

However, there’s also a risk in waiting on the secondary market since there’s always a chance a big enough matchup will draw huge interest. At its current average price of $1613.01, the 2016 College Football Championship would be the fourth most expensive of the past six games, but the most expensive in the past three seasons.