March Madness: Average ticket price 80% higher than 2019

StubHub Ticket Expert Adam Budelli joins Yahoo Finance Live to compare ticket prices of past March Madness Final Four games with this year's prices and the ticket resale market.

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[MUSIC PLAYING] - Duke and North Carolina have met more than 250 times over the years. Never before have they played in the NCAA tournament until Saturday when they meet in the Final Four, and what could be Mike Krzyzewski's final game ever as a coach. And on the other side, two historic programs in Kansas and Villanova. Does this make for the most expensive Final Four tickets in history? Let's put a price tag on history with Adam Budelli from StubHub. Adam, good to see you. What are we seeing in terms of ticket prices, and how does it compare historically? ADAM BUDELLI: Yes, thanks for having me. Certainly exciting time as we head into the Final Four weekend. To put this in perspective, just over the past couple of years, we're seeing huge demand for this Final Four. The average ticket price right now is 80% higher than what we saw back in 2019, and still more than 15% higher than the last year. Last year as a reminder for everyone was unique. COVID time, so they actually capped the capacity at 25%. So 60,000 additional tickets this year. To see that much growth, it's certainly unprecedented. And as you mentioned when you're talking about the blue bloods of the sport, it all makes sense. - That does make sense when you consider the reduced capacity last year. What in particular, do you think is driving the demand? Are you able to look inside the numbers? Is it Mike Krzyzewski? Is it the Duke North Carolina rivalry? Or is it the Ford typical blue blood type program? ADAM BUDELLI: Yeah, I think that however you want to slice it up, I mean, there's certainly storylines for everyone, but you nail on the head. If you just look at Coach K across the year, you know, this is his last season as head coach. He made it known before the season. Average ticket prices on all of his away games have been through the roof. And their last home game at Cameron Indoor against North Carolina was the highest single game average ticket price in StubHub history for college basketball game, which just under $5,000. So that's certainly the leading driver. You add in four teams that are national nationwide brands willing to travel. They're used to spending these high prices, but it all kind of mixed it together for the perfect storm. But currently, we have seen more than 11% of our tickets come from the State of North Carolina. So clearly, that one match up in itself is going to be driving a lot of the demand for Saturday. - You're talking to a guy who paid $600 for a Lafayette game at Cameron Indoor Stadium so I'm very familiar with the demand to see Mike Krzyzewski. You mentioned North Carolina, what states come after North Carolina? And what currently is the buying price? ADAM BUDELLI: Yeah, New York City is kind of actually next at around 10%, in a New Jersey and California around 9. You know, for a unique event like the Final Four, when you think about a college basketball game or even NBA game, you don't necessarily think of 78,000 tickets available. So when they get in price looks at only $360, on one hand, you may say, hey, that's actually pretty affordable when you talk about ticket prices at a Cameron Indoor Stadium during the regular season. But if you really are thinking about a lower level, even for a football game, those are going to be closer to or at least, starting at $2000. And the highest price tickets sold so far on StubHub for this weekend's matchups is just about under $14,000. So wide range of price unique to a Final Four, given again 78,000 tickets. But that's kind of the wide range as you can imagine, of a basketball court placed in the middle of a football field. - Yeah, a word of caution before you plunk down for tickets, you can barely see the game if you're in that top tier to football stadium. I've been there, I've done that. It is not the greatest experience. So what does it cost you to be in that 100 section along the sidelines that you can actually see in a football stadium? What are the ticket prices you're seeing? ADAM BUDELLI: You're looking-- if you're going to be around the sideline, and make sure to your point, you could be on the 30 yard line in a normal Saints game and that's going to be below the baseline for a College Basketball Game. So if you get a little bit closer, you're looking to start around $6,500 per ticket, and that's obviously before the fees. So it's going to be a pretty expensive ticket to be able to get a seat, but you're actually watching the game and not just the video board up above. - Our prices comparing for Saturday's semifinals against the Monday Championship. ADAM BUDELLI: Monday's Championship is a little bit more affordable as you look at a get in and currently the higher and ticket prices. Get in is about $160. We have about 4,000 tickets available for Monday. So a little bit more inventory out there. But that makes sense. Again, you're talking about one game, and a lot of the prices will really be dictated based on the first game earlier in the day. And then obviously, everyone will be waiting to see if it's going to be Duke or North Carolina. And those fan bases will typically quickly move as you head into Monday. - Interesting to see it's so much less for a championship game than it would be for a semifinal. Talked to a lot of Duke fans that are going Saturday, and then planning to leave town, it seems that Duke-North Carolina almost feels like a championship at this point. Adam Budelli from StubHub. Appreciate your time. Thank you.