Ticket demand for the Women’s Final Four is higher than ever on the secondary market, according to an analysis of several ticket exchanges.
The analysis, by the ticketing technology company Logitix, showed that average ticket prices for the women’s semifinals and final in Dallas this weekend doubled compared with 2022 figures, to $367 for the semifinal games on Friday night. Logitix also found that demand for the men’s Final Four dropped by about a quarter for the games in Houston compared with last year, to $819 for the semifinal games.
“The most exciting part about it is being a part of history,” L.S.U. guard Alexis Morris said. “We’re literally watching the game grow and change right in front of our faces, and we’re playing a huge part in it.”
The women’s Final Four features the more high profile matchups compared with the men, with all four teams seeded highly in the tournament when the brackets were released earlier this month. One matchup features the last two Associated Press national players of the year in Iowa’s Caitlin Clark and South Carolina’s Aliyah Boston. The men’s Final Four lacks equivalent star power.
“It shows the demand that people want to be here and be in the arena that seats 20,000 people,” Clark said. “More than anything, I’m just lucky and we’re just lucky to get to play on a stage in front of so many people that love the game and want to watch our game.”
Listings on SeatGeek showed that the cheapest prices for the women’s games — for standing room only tickets — were more expensive than the cheapest prices for the men’s games. One factor at play is the differing capacities in the arenas, with the women’s Final Four in American Airlines Center, which seats 20,000, and the men’s games at NRG Stadium, with well over 70,000 seats.
“We understand where they’re coming from,” San Diego State senior forward Keshad Johnson said Thursday when asked about the perception of this being a “boring” men’s Final Four. “No blue bloods in here or anything like that, mid-majors in here. So it’s nothing really crazy about it. We understand what they mean.”
Said San Diego State senior guard Matt Bradley: “Those teams they wanted here, they’re not.”