File this next item under “stories you probably didn’t expect to see, but carry considerable significance for the Pac-12 and other stakeholders in college sports.”
Sportico and other outlets noticed that on Tuesday morning (March 28), the get-in ticket prices for the Women’s Final Four in Dallas this Friday considerably eclipsed the get-in prices for the Men’s Final Four in Houston on Saturday.
By how much did Women’s Final Four ticket prices exceed the men at Ticketmaster? Over three times as much.
The Men’s Final Four has rarely been this affordable and accessible for a middle-class consumer. If you’re a Houstonian or a Texan or a Louisiana or Arkansas resident, you could drive to Houston and watch a pair of national semifinals for at or near $100, one of the more improbable but considerable sports bargains for a high-end event.
With Florida Atlantic, San Diego State, and Miami joining blue-blood UConn at the Final Four, the heavyweight presence at the event is minimal. Large national fan bases are in short supply. Moreover, because the event is now regularly held in domes with seating configurations which can accommodate near 70,000 people, those upper-deck seats are going to come very cheaply.
Meanwhile, the Women’s Final Four clearly has the biggest blockbuster game of any of the four national semifinals, men or women, this weekend: Iowa and superstar Caitlin Clark against unbeaten defending national champion South Carolina.
This is why the Women’s Final Four get-in price was over $300 at Ticketmaster on Tuesday morning:
Re: Ticketmaster this morning:
Men's Final Four – Semi-Finals lowest ticket price: $99
Women's Final Four – Semi-Finals lowest ticket price: $323 pic.twitter.com/uRYjixQnNM— Sportico (@Sportico) March 28, 2023
Why does this matter? Why bother to mention it? It’s simple: As we have noted (with help from Jon Wilner of the Wilner Hotline) over the past two years, the Women’s NCAA Tournament is currently bundled with other NCAA sports championships. It is not a standalone media rights property. If it could be un-tethered from those other non-revenue sports, and if a “win unit” structre akin to what exists for the men’s tournament was created, women’s basketball could generate extra millions of dollars for sports programs in the Pac-12 and other conferences.
Sure, the money wouldn’t be nearly as huge as what the men take in, but more millions of dollars is a whole lot better than zero dollars. It’s long past time for the women’s tournament to become a significant revenue vehicle for college sports programs big and small.
George Kliavkoff and Pac-12 presidents and chancellors can certainly use the money.
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