Are you planning to buy tickets for the Final Four tomorrow in Indianapolis? Currently ticket prices are higher than I expected – especially for the semifinals tomorrow night. There are two ways to buy tickets to the Final Four through the primary market. First, you can buy tickets through the lottery the NCAA holds one year in advance. Second, you can buy tickets from a school. However, both methods require fans to buy “the strip” which includes one ticket to Saturday night’s semifinal games and one ticket to the Championship game on Monday night.

This makes sense for the NCAA since they know they will sell out both nights. But it does not make sense for fans, since a lot of people cannot or do not want to attend the Championship game Monday night since 1) their team may be eliminated on Saturday night and 2) they do not want to take two days off from work in order to attend.

Thus, this is where the secondary ticket market comes into play. The secondary market allows you to buy tickets to the night you want to attend rather than being forced to buy tickets to both nights.

Currently, the cheapest tickets on StubHub for tomorrow night’s semifinal match up are $220 each. However, the cheapest price for “the strip” is only $225 per ticket. One might jump at buying “the strip” since it appears the Championship game will only cost you $5. However, I would argue that by waiting to buy tickets outside of Lucas Oil Stadium you will save money – although you will need to work for the savings. Plus, do not assume you will be able to sell your Championship game ticket for more than face value. Most likely you will take a loss.