Notre Dame boosting college football ticket market, IU dragging it down

When it comes to getting into college football games, not many places are more expensive than Notre Dame. Indiana University is just the opposite, but more on that in a minute.

Only tickets to see Ohio State play are more expensive than Notre Dame in the secondary market, according to ticket brokerage Vivid Seats.

The average and median ticket prices to see the Fighting Irish play at South Bend are $260 and $210, respectively. Ohio State’s average and median are $299 and $211.

Several other traditional college football powers are near the top. Alabama is third with $247 and $200, and Georgia is fourth at $234 and $200, according to Vivid Seats.

There’s a big drop off at No. 5, with Louisiana State home games going for $192 and $133. UCLA is sixth at $177, but with a fifth-highest median at $140.

Rounding out the top 10 are Nebraska ($165/$140), Oklahoma ($150/$134), Texas A&M ($177/$127) and Oregon ($154/$132).

Oddly, last year’s national champion, Florida State, did not make the top 25.

Besides Ohio State and Nebraska, the Big Ten has three other schools in the top 25. Iowa is No. 13 ($145/$120), Penn State is No. 14 ($141/$115) and Michigan State is No. 25 ($124/$88).

What about Indiana University football? The Hoosiers are nowhere on the list when it comes to expensive football tickets. In fact, IU depresses the market wherever it goes.

When IU comes to town, home ticket prices of their opponents decrease an average of 14.6 percent on the secondary market compared to what they would sell for during all other home games, according to Vivid Seats.

Ohio State drives its road opponent ticket prices up 134.6 percent and Michigan, up 123.6 percent. Nine of 14 Big Ten schools have a positive effect on the secondary ticket prices of their road opponents home games. Purdue is No. 9 with a 2.8-percent positive impact when on the road.

IU is No. 13 in the Big Ten, ahead of only Rutgers, which depresses its road opponents tickets by a whopping 24.5 percent.

Notre Dame seems to have a positive impact on ticket prices no matter where it plays.

The Fighting Irish is involved in four games in the top 25 in terms of ticket prices on the secondary market. And clearly there are lots of ND (and Purdue) fans in Indianapolis.

The Notre Dame vs. Purdue game at Lucas Oil Stadium is the seventh most-expensive college football game to get a ticket to on the secondary market. The average is $337 and the median in $342.

It will be even more expensive for Notre Dame fans to get a ticket on the secondary market for the team’s home game against Michigan on Sept. 6. That is the fourth most expensive—$492 average and $465 median.

Notre Dame has two other road games in the top 25. At USC is No. 18 at $267 and Navy is No. 25 at $243.

The Nov. 29 Michigan at Ohio State game, at an eye-popping $656, is the most expensive of all. The Nov. 8 Alabama at LSU game is the second most expensive at $561.