Recently, I was trying to get a sense for how many Dawg fans might be heading out to Tempe, and I was curious about the relative "hotness" of the Georgia vs. ASU ticket in the secondary market. So I lobbed a call into my contact over at Stubhub, and they gave me some interesting tidbits.
Source: Stubhub.com
Data: 08/18/08
College Football After Market Info:
- The Georgia Bulldogs at Arizona State Sun Devils tickets are Stubhub's #5 best selling college football listing for 2008 in terms of # of buyers, # of transactions, and # of tickets sold. I didn't ask about dollar figures, and they couldn't have told me anyway.
- They have sold over 1,500 tickets to the Georgia vs. ASU game. Imagine what demand would look like if Dawg fans hadn't purchased a truckload of ASU season tickets?
- The Top 5 Ticket Sales on Stubhub (# of tix...not revenue):
- -- Ohio State at Southern Cal
-- Alabama vs. Clemson
-- Illinois vs. Missouri
-- USC at Virginia
-- UGA at ASU: 1,500+ tickets sold - Listings tend to become more active as a game draws closer. UGA vs. ASU is the only Top 10 match-up (in terms of ticket sales via stubhub) not held during Weeks 1-3.
- As a point of comparison, USC vs. ASU in 2007 had twice as many total transactions last year compared to UGA vs. ASU to date. However, there are still five weeks to go. We're within shouting distance of the #2 most purchased game; yet that game is is 4 weeks sooner than ours.
I'm a blogger. Who says I need a point? Anyway, I'd guess 3,000-4,000 fans will gain access to the game via Stubhub, with another group getting tickets from sites like TicketCity, TheSeats.com, TicketLiquidator, TickCo, Barry's Tickets, and other places.
I would assume that a large chunk of those tickets will go to Georgia fans. If you're a Sun Devil fan, and you've been accustomed to walking up to the stadium and scalping for cheap all your life...wouldn't you be more likely to try and do that for this game?
You could argue that there's no way of telling from my data how many tickets went to ASU fans vs. how many went to UGA fans. True. But we're 5 weeks out from the game, and the after market is very active.
We know that 7,300 Georgia fans bought tickets from our Athletic Department, and I'd wager another 2,000 or so purchased season tickets from ASU. That's based on an estimate regarding the number of tickets in the upper level end zone and other info. Plus, I think we'll see another 2,000 Dawg fans buying tickets via the after market before hand.
So my current guess is around 12,000 Georgia fans make the Arizona State trip. I could be wrong, and we could show up with 15,000 or more, but I'd be shocked. And fired up.
PWD
(NOTE: Travel tips in the comments section)
