This is part 2 of my series, “Planning for the 2008 SEC Men’s Basketball Tournament.” It deals with determining what type of tickets complement your reasons for attending the tournament.
Tip 1: Know your ticket options
The SEC Men’s Tournament is an 11 game, single-elimination tournament spanning 4 days. The 11 games are divided into 6 sessions (2 games/ session, except for the Championship game) and single tickets for all 6 sessions are combined into a book of tournament tickets. Tickets are sold through the member-schools’, the conference’s, and the stadium’s ticket-offices only in complete ticket books. Single session tickets are only available from third-parties who have purchased complete books and opted to resell the session tickets individually. Other than for the Championship game (Session 6), there is no way to purchase single-game tickets.
Fans purchase tickets in three types: single session tickets, or “singles”; full books; and partial books. Singles (face value: $45 for sessions 1-5; $35 for Session 6), are individual tickets that will admit you to one session of (usually) two games. This tournament bracket shows what games are divided into which sessions. Full books (face value: $260) contain same-seat tickets to all 6 sessions (plus 3 one-day tickets to the Dr. Pepper Fan Fare). Partial books (face value: depends on tickets in book) are basically full books that have had some number of individual singles removed (usually to early sessions).
Buying the right types of tickets depends on how much of the tournament you want to see, the likelihood that certain teams will advance through the tournament rounds, and how much money you want to spend.
Tip 2: How much do you want to see?
Imagine a continuum (for you Bama fans, a continuum is like a number line). The left extreme of this continuum is labeled “I want to see every tournament game”. The right extreme is marked, “I only want to see my team’s games.” Try to imagine, where on this continuum you are. Fans further to the left will tend to buy whole or partial books while fans further to the right will tend to buy singles.
I say, “tend to” because no one knows how far their team’s likely to advance. For example, imagine two 2007 tournament attenders with an equal interest in seeing only their team’s games: one’s for Arkansas, the other’s for Auburn. Buying singles would have served the Auburn fan much better than the Arkansas fan because Auburn only lasted one game while Arkansas advanced to the finals.
Tip 3: How good of a gambler are you?
Since no one knows who’s gonna advance, fans sometimes try to speculate on their teams performance and buy tickets accordingly. If you believe your team will go to the finals, and you’re correct, buying a whole or partial book might be wise since you’ll be certain of having tickets to all 3 or 4 of those games. Conversely, if you think your team is likely to lose early, and they do, then a single is probably the best value. The trouble occurs when you falsely predict your team’s performance.
Fans should also consider what effect certain teams’ advancement will have on the overall demand for tickets. As overall ticket demand goes up, street prices rise and availability falls. The price of singles and partial books will fluctuate based on which teams advance through the tournament - specifically, beyond the second day. For example, if Auburn, Ole Miss, South Carolina, or Vandy advance, ticket prices will drop. If Arkansas, Georgia, LSU, or Mississippi State advance, prices will remain steady. If Tennessee or Alabama advance, prices will rise. And if Kentucky or Florida advance, prices will rise steeply, perhaps doubling, tripling… or more.
Also, keep in mind, it’s highly UNLIKELY that NONE of the popular teams (Kentucky, Florida, Tennessee, or Alabama) will advance to Saturday. Over the last ten years, there’s only been one tournament (2000) where none of those teams has advanced to the semifinals. So, you’d do well to expect 1 or 2 of these teams to make it to the semifinals, therefore increasing ticket demand.
Tip 4: How much is it all worth?
The final aspect of choosing ticket types is identifying how much you’d prefer to spend on tickets. At best, you could expect to pay as little as about $40, provided you bought one single ($5 below face value) and your team lost that game. At most, you shouldn’t spend more than $260 (the face value of a whole book) for tickets to all your team’s games. However, some folks do end up spending more than that for tickets to all their team’s games.
For example: imagine you’re a Kentucky fan. You show up on day 1 (yes, Kentucky, there is a first day of the tournament) and buy a face value single for $45. Ky. wins and you buy another face value single for another $45. Ky. wins again. In addition, Florida, Alabama, and Tennessee also advance to the semifinals with Fla. and Bama on one side of the bracket and Ky. and Tn. on the other. Ticket demand SKYROCKETS! You’re able to find a scalper who generously sells you a ticket for $90. Fla. and Ky. advance to the finals. You swallow your pride, find an ATM, and grudgingly shell out $150 for a seat at the back of the lower-level, behind a backboard. All total, your lack of preparation (and the perfect storm of tournament advancement) has cost you $330. That’s $70 more than a whole book cost. You might also be out another $90, assuming you could have sold the 2 session tickets that Ky. didn’t play in to other fans.
So what type is best? Well, I pull for Auburn, so that’s a reason to buy singles. However, I enjoy simply going to the tournament and watching a bunch of teams, so whole books are a plus for me. I’m not a big risk-taker, so I tend not to base my ticket purchases on speculation of who’s gonna advance. Basically, I’d rather be in a position to sell tickets I have but don’t need, rather than to buy tickets I need but don’t have.
The end result of all this tournament ticket soul-searching: I buy whole books.