Faculty hoops followers who need to watch the final 4 ladies’s groups battle it out on this 12 months’s version of the March Insanity event in particular person might need to brace for sticker shock.
On SeatGeek, the most affordable tickets for the ladies’s Last 4 matchups on April 5 was $674, in contrast with $611 for the lads’s bracket. At Ticketmaster, as of Monday the lowest-priced seats for the ladies’s and males’s Last 4 video games have been $746 and $693, respectively.
The costs have shot up amid surging demand for tickets in latest days, buoyed by the glowing on-court performances of Louisiana State College’s Angel Reese and the College of Iowa’s Caitlin Clark, on-line ticket brokers mentioned. At some ticket sellers, the worth for a ladies’s event seat is now costlier than for the lads’s video games.
Clark and Reese squared off for final 12 months’s nationwide championship, which LSU captured, and the 2 are matched up once more in an eagerly anticipated Elite Eight contest Monday night time.
“We’re seeing a seismic shift on the earth of sports activities, because of athletes like Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese and others who’re charming audiences with their expertise and star energy,” Chris Leyden, SeatGeek’s development advertising director, instructed CBS MoneyWatch. “This shift is essentially pushed by the potent model energy these athletes wield, fueling unprecedented demand for this 12 months’s March Insanity event.”
Clark and Reese are showcasing their abilities on the court docket, however they “are additionally inspiring a brand new period of fandom and engagement,” Leyden mentioned.
Viewership in school basketball has climbed in recent times, bolstered largely by college-educated males who watch on on-line streaming companies. About 22% of internet-using People watch NCAA basketball, based on a survey from S&P World Market Intelligence Kagan. The survey additionally discovered that 7% of respondents watch ladies’s school basketball, a determine that elevated to 9% this month.
