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NCAA Basketball: Price of tickets to the National Championship

By Brandon Griffin

Apr 1, 2017; Glendale, AZ, USA; General view as basketball fans leave early from the semifinals of the 2017 NCAA Men's Final Four between the Oregon Ducks and North Carolina Tar Heels at University of Phoenix Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports
Apr 1, 2017; Glendale, AZ, USA; General view as basketball fans leave early from the semifinals of the 2017 NCAA Men's Final Four between the Oregon Ducks and North Carolina Tar Heels at University of Phoenix Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Tar Heels are in the National Championship. How much would it cost to go to the game this year?

Okay, so let’s say you woke up this morning in your Chapel Hill dorm room and said “Forget responsibility, I am going to the National Championship game in Arizona!”

What would it cost you to get there?

Well let’s see. It’s 24 miles from Chapel Hill to the Raleigh International Airport. That trip is going to cost you somewhere around a gallon of gas, which is $2.25.

Apr 1, 2017; Glendale, AZ, USA; North Carolina Tar Heels fans pose for a photo outside after the semifinals of the 2017 NCAA Men’s Final Four against the Oregon Ducks at University of Phoenix Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports
Apr 1, 2017; Glendale, AZ, USA; North Carolina Tar Heels fans pose for a photo outside after the semifinals of the 2017 NCAA Men’s Final Four against the Oregon Ducks at University of Phoenix Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports /

You stop and get a burger on the way: $4.00.

You purchase a one way ticket to Phoenix: $583.00.

You land down in Phoenix and rent a compact car: $35.00.

You arrive at University of Phoenix Stadium where they miraculously still have a ticket waiting for you. Average price: $319.

So your miraculous one-day trip set you back a little under $1,000. Amazingly, the best deal you got was on the ticket to the National Championship game.

At least compared to other seasons.

The average price for a championship game ticket this season was $25 dollars less than last season and $200 dollars less than in 2014, the height of pricing in the past five years.

In fact, since 2014, prices of national championship tickets has dropped steadily each year. It is interesting, as every other ticket price this season saw a sharp increase.

Final Four tickets actually went up $121, while all session prices went up nearly $180. It was actually cheaper to buy Final Four tickets and National Championship game tickets separately than it was to buy them as the package ($826 separately as opposed to $841 combined).

So why the decrease? A lot probably has to do with the makeup of the Final Four. Three of the four squads had never made it before (Oregon made it 1939, but still). In the past four seasons the Final Four participants had made it an average of 33.5 times.

Teams with deep tradition tend to see their fans travel better. Teams without great tradition, not so much. Plus, bigger schools demand bigger ticket prices. In 2014, the two teams were Kentucky and Connecticut, two major basketball schools.

Related Story: North Carolina vs Gonzaga game preview

Regardless, this is one of the cheapest National Championship games in a while. Hopefully enough Tar Heels fans made it out west to watch UNC bring home another banner for the Dean Dome.

Ticket price information courtesy of Vivid Seats.

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