NCAA Tourney Tickets

[audiokiwi]

I've never been to an NCAA tourney game or tried to buy tickets before. I'm debating pulling the trigger for some Milwaukee tickets since I live in Chicago now and it seems like ISU is more likely than not to get placed in Milwaukee. It also helps that Milwaukee is a Friday/Sunday site so I wouldn't have to take much time off work.

Has anyone bought tickets before? Should I wait until the bracket is revealed for sure? If I buy now, will I be able to offload my tickets pretty easily in case ISU ends up somewhere else?

 

[AltoonaFish]

I've never been to an NCAA tourney game or tried to buy tickets before. I'm debating pulling the trigger for some Milwaukee tickets since I live in Chicago now and it seems like ISU is more likely than not to get placed in Milwaukee. It also helps that Milwaukee is a Friday/Sunday site so I wouldn't have to take much time off work.

Has anyone bought tickets before? Should I wait until the bracket is revealed for sure? If I buy now, will I be able to offload my tickets pretty easily in case ISU ends up somewhere else?

I only have experience in Des Moines, but even when Kentucky/Indiana played here it was a tough ticket to sell. If for some reason Isu ends up in Wichita you’ll struggle to get your money back. If they do make it, you’ll probably save money since Isu will travel.

 

[moores2]

I only have experience in Des Moines, but even when Kentucky/Indiana played here it was a tough ticket to sell. If for some reason Isu ends up in Wichita you’ll struggle to get your money back. If they do make it, you’ll probably save money since Isu will travel.

I think this is right only for first round games. My experience with sweet 16/elite 8 tickets is that they are fairly easy to offload. Plus, there is some great basketball to watch even if Iowa State doesn't end up there.

 

[thisISnextyear]

While it is a pretty solid guess that we will be in Milwaukee, the bigger issue when it comes to buying early is which Session we play in. If you are going for the full day and want to just watch hoops while also cheering on the Cyclones, you could buy all sessions BUT if you only want to watch they Cyclones and guess wrong on which session, you could be throwing money away (depending on the other matchups). Omaha being the most recent example of this where Iowa State's session (session 2) were in extremely high demand however the morning session (session 1) you could buy tickets for $5.

 

[Cyburbbalz]

I've never been to an NCAA tourney game or tried to buy tickets before. I'm debating pulling the trigger for some Milwaukee tickets since I live in Chicago now and it seems like ISU is more likely than not to get placed in Milwaukee. It also helps that Milwaukee is a Friday/Sunday site so I wouldn't have to take much time off work.

Has anyone bought tickets before? Should I wait until the bracket is revealed for sure? If I buy now, will I be able to offload my tickets pretty easily in case ISU ends up somewhere else?

Prices will skyrocket wherever clones go after bracket is announced.

 

[NoCreativity]

I only have experience in Des Moines, but even when Kentucky/Indiana played here it was a tough ticket to sell.

Why would you try to sell that?

 

[cycjob]

I live in Chicago and went to the Cyclone games the last time they were in Milwaukee for the tournament. I bought tickets as soon as I could confirm when the Cyclones played. Like most locations, they run two sessions for the first day of games. If you buy now, you may not get the session the Clones play in. You could buy tickets to all sessions for the first day, but that is a lot of basketball for anyone.

 

[audiokiwi]

I live in Chicago and went to the Cyclone games the last time they were in Milwaukee for the tournament. I bought tickets as soon as I could confirm when the Cyclones played. Like most locations, they run two sessions for the first day of games. If you buy now, you may not get the session the Clones play in. You could buy tickets to all sessions for the first day, but that is a lot of basketball for anyone.

Thanks everyone, that makes sense. I'll probably hold off for a while, maybe pull the trigger during the Big 12 championship weekend if things are looking pretty solid.

Has anyone had luck getting round of 32 tickets from fans of the losing teams? That's my go-to for the Big 12 tourney.

 

[danwbarrett]

Thanks everyone, that makes sense. I'll probably hold off for a while, maybe pull the trigger during the Big 12 championship weekend if things are looking pretty solid.

Has anyone had luck getting round of 32 tickets from fans of the losing teams? That's my go-to for the Big 12 tourney.

For the first and second round of the NCAA tournament, each school only receives 400 tickets and those tickets are only for the game (s) that their school plays. Therefore, the majority of tickets are purchased on the secondary market. Thus purchasing “from the fans of visiting teams” doesn’t directly occur.

 

[FarmerCy1]

We purchased all session passes last year in Omaha and made a weekend of it with another couple. I bought mine from Ticketmaster the week or two before the bracket was announced when it was as close to a sure thing and you were going to get. The price wasn’t horrible, and it was kind of nice to watch some of the other games just for the experience. As far as resale goes, you probably won’t have a problem getting rid of them or selling a different session if you didn’t want to go or the Clones weren’t in that session.

 

[IAC1858]

While it is a pretty solid guess that we will be in Milwaukee, the bigger issue when it comes to buying early is which Session we play in. If you are going for the full day and want to just watch hoops while also cheering on the Cyclones, you could buy all sessions BUT if you only want to watch they Cyclones and guess wrong on which session, you could be throwing money away (depending on the other matchups). Omaha being the most recent example of this where Iowa State's session (session 2) were in extremely high demand however the morning session (session 1) you could buy tickets for $5.

One major difference this year, if in Milwaukee, compared to last year is that Wisconsin or Purdue will likely be the high seed team in the other session. Illinois, BYU, Duquesne, and Morehead State did not bring much of a draw of fans to Omaha, outside of those purchasing through the university.

 

[BillBrasky4Cy]

I only have experience in Des Moines, but even when Kentucky/Indiana played here it was a tough ticket to sell. If for some reason Isu ends up in Wichita you’ll struggle to get your money back. If they do make it, you’ll probably save money since Isu will travel.

I think this is right only for first round games. My experience with sweet 16/elite 8 tickets is that they are fairly easy to offload. Plus, there is some great basketball to watch even if Iowa State doesn't end up there.

That Indiana vs Kentucky second round game was the highest demand ticket for all sites but you couldn't give away the first and second round session tickets.

 

[BillBrasky4Cy]

Thanks everyone, that makes sense. I'll probably hold off for a while, maybe pull the trigger during the Big 12 championship weekend if things are looking pretty solid.

Has anyone had luck getting round of 32 tickets from fans of the losing teams? That's my go-to for the Big 12 tourney.

In the past yes but now everything is an electronic ticket so you are handcuffed to the resale sites and their fee's. The days of tickets on the streets are over which really inflates ticket prices.

 

[CYdTracked]

I bought all session tickets to Omaha off of StubHub last year right before we tipped off the Big 12 Championship game. I figured there was a very good chance we'd go there and even if we didn't some team in the region with a fanbase that would travel I'd be able to resell and recoup the money.

Just depends on what kind of risk and price range you are willing to take prior to the brackets being announced. Can probably lock in at a lower price now than you could once the brackets are revealed and the demand goes up but you also risk the worse case scenario where ISU is placed somewhere else and now you have to try and resell them.

 

[clone52]

Both Milwaukee sessions will likely be high priced. Probably little risk to buy all session and sell if you don't want it all. The two top seeds will likely come from this group of teams.

Iowa State
Wisconsin
Purdue

Less likely but possible are
Kansas
Michigan State
Kentucky

 

[Clonehomer]

With Wisconsin and Purdue ranked high, would ISU be more likely and probably prefer Wichita? With Kansas and Kansas State out of the running for a spot there, who else are we competing with for that local team? My preference would be ISU and Houston in Wichita to get to cheer for fellow Big12 teams rather than watching Big10 basketball.

 

[IAC1858]

Milwaukee would be preferred by both the athletic department and fans. Jamie stated as recently as yesterday on KXNO that would be the preferred site (although he followed that up with a statement that it ultimately doesn't matter where they end up).

Wichita is an interesting site this year because it is the closest first weekend location to Texas. We would be competing with Texas A&M and Houston for Wichita. I think that if we are highly enough ranked to beat out both of those teams, we would be higher ranked than Wisconsin and Purdue.

Dropping below Wisconsin and Purdue would likely also place us below Houston and Texas A&M.

I still think we are almost locked into a top 3 seed, which would still give us some preference on where we end up; with the third closest site being Denver.

I believe that if we drop low enough to lose out on Milwaukee, we will likely end up in Denver, not Wichita.

 

[thisISnextyear]

Milwaukee would be preferred by both the athletic department and fans. Jamie stated as recently as yesterday on KXNO that would be the preferred site (although he followed that up with a statement that it ultimately doesn't matter where they end up).

Wichita is an interesting site this year because it is the closest first weekend location to Texas. We would be competing with Texas A&M and Houston for Wichita. I think that if we are highly enough ranked to beat out both of those teams, we would be higher ranked than Wisconsin and Purdue.

Dropping below Wisconsin and Purdue would likely also place us below Houston and Texas A&M.

I still think we are almost locked into a top 3 seed, which would still give us some preference on where we end up; with the third closest site being Denver.

I believe that if we drop low enough to lose out on Milwaukee, we will likely end up in Denver, not Wichita.

Mackey is almost as close to Rupp as it is to Fiserv so I'm still planning on us getting Milwaukee over Purdue. Interestingly, the order in terms of proximity (mileage from campus) based on the NCAA rules for us is:
Milwaukee
Wichita
Lexington
Cleveland
Denver

 

[clone52]

With Wisconsin and Purdue ranked high, would ISU be more likely and probably prefer Wichita? With Kansas and Kansas State out of the running for a spot there, who else are we competing with for that local team? My preference would be ISU and Houston in Wichita to get to cheer for fellow Big12 teams rather than watching Big10 basketball.

Might not be bad. Personally being in eastern Iowa, Milwaukee is better, but for Des Moines it's a push

 

[clone52]

Mackey is almost as close to Rupp as it is to Fiserv so I'm still planning on us getting Milwaukee over Purdue. Interestingly, the order in terms of proximity (mileage from campus) based on the NCAA rules for us is:
Milwaukee
Wichita
Lexington
Cleveland
Denver

Almost as close doesn't matter. If Purdue is ahead of us, they will get the closest location.