Alabama-Auburn basketball ticket prices speak to insane buzz for rivalry showdowns
With each passing day, the buzz grows.
It’s at a solid hum now but you can feel the vibrations in the state’s heartbeat.
The new Tobacco Road is about to be turned on its head with the two meetings of Alabama and Auburn less than three weeks away.
They’re two of the top four teams in the nation, according to the Associated Press and coaches polls. The Tigers are a unanimous No. 1 in both. Every ballot has Auburn on top, while Alabama is No. 4 in both places.
Again, let’s recognize the alternate universe we’re occupying. Auburn’s six years removed from a football bowl win, and Alabama’s recovering from a four-loss season while the basketball counterparts have far more realistic national championship expectations.
But here we are, in this reality that would’ve sent our January 2015 selves to the nut house.
A decade later, it’s sending our current versions to a financial planner.
Attending either of the two Alabama-Auburn basketball games this season won’t be cheap in a generous assessment. Emotional robbery is a more honest one.
A look at get-in prices for the Feb. 15 game in Tuscaloosa and the March 8 regular-season finale in Auburn is staggering.
Of course, all tickets are sold out through the schools, so it’s up to the secondary markets.
Alabama’s website sends you to an official ticket reselling partner where the cheapest single ticket right now is $285 (plus the $92.77 in fees) for a total of $377.77. That’s for a frankly awful view in the top corner of a famously cavernous Coleman Coliseum.
Four seats at mid court, eight rows off the hardwood, are listed at $1,311 apiece (plus $409 in fees per seat) so a good view will coast a family of four $6,880.
It gets even more outrageous in the more intimate Neville Arena.
The most affordable option, as of Monday afternoon for the March 8 game, was $545 ($389 base plus $156 in fees) for a standing room ticket. That’s through Auburn’s official ticket resale partner, the same one Alabama uses.
The best seats available, a set of four in the second row behind the Alabama bench, will set you back $11,455.
And 44 cents.
Each ticket comes with $678.86 in fees.
Each.
That family of four will be paying $2,715 in fees alone. But it comes with club access with food and non-alcoholic beverages included.
We’re still a month and a half from tip-off at 1 p.m. CT in Neville Arena, for context. And these are just the list prices with no guarantee anyone will pay these prices.
Another resale site listed a few tickets that recently sold in the $450-$500 range for the Tuscaloosa game.
Keep in mind the hype is only beginning.
The biggest challenge facing Alabama between now and the first Auburn game in Wednesday’s trip to No. 14 Mississippi State. It should be comfortably favored in the next three before Auburn comes calling.
The Tigers’ biggest test comes a week before going to Tuscaloosa when current No. 5 Florida comes to Auburn.
Both have compelling rosters with veteran players — several who have been there a few years, which isn’t always the case in this era.
They split the two meetings last year, with each winning on their home floors as Auburn eventually won the SEC tournament and Alabama went on to the Final Four.
Both are fully equipped to make a run at that ultimate prize on the first weekend of April.
But any of that will come after navigating arguably two of the most anticipated on-campus basketball games this state has ever seen.
Two Saturday afternoons in the heart of football country with a bad case of basketball fever.
Just don’t expect to witness this madness on a budget.
Michael Casagrande is a reporter for the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @ByCasagrande or on Facebook.
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