College football’s national title game may have lost some of its luster, as ticket prices for this year’s game between Alabama and Clemson are plummeting.
According to Yahoo Sports, "get-in" prices for the big game hit $150 on the secondary market, and experts say that should continue to drop. By comparison, last year’s get-in price peaked at about $1,700.
The news comes after a New Year’s weekend that featured lopsided semifinal games and, in turn, poor television ratings. This year’s college football flop has many arguing for an eight-team playoff next year to shake things up.
To be sure, Alabama and Clemson are the cream of the crop. Alabama was the unbeaten champion in 2018, while Clemson was the unbeaten champion in 2017. Nevertheless, the two teams could be playing Monday night in front of empty seats at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif.
Geography could be part of the problem. A year ago, when Alabama and Georgia met in Atlanta, the average ticket price on SeatGeek was pegged at $3,046. That number pales in comparison to tickets for this year’s game.
“Tickets sold in the past 24 hours have gone for an average of just $533 each,” said Chris Leyden of SeatGeek.com. “We have not seen prices this low at this point for a title game before."
