Final Four is closer, but still a tough ticket
The 2007 Final Four is closer than last year's, but seeing the Florida Gators defend their national championship will be as difficult and expensive as last season.
This year's location - the Georgia Dome in Atlanta - is more convenient for fans in North Florida than the 2006 site in Indianapolis, but that only means getting there will be easier.
"A lot more people are planning to go this year [compared with last year]," said Lori Aver-itt, president of the Gator Club of Jacksonville. "We've got a large group planning to go with or without tickets. It's amazing to be back [in the Final Four] and it's so close."
By Monday evening, Florida's ticket allotment of 4,150 - 3,750 for alumni, boosters and fans and 400 for students - was in the process of being dispersed.
Only certain season-ticket holders with a certain level of priority points - based on money spent on UF athletics and tickets - were eligible. Ticket packages, which include Saturday's semifinals and Monday's title game, have a face value of $204 and $154.
To be eligible for tickets, UF students must be members of the Rowdy Reptile club and have attended at least eight Gator basketball games this season. According to the university, about 2,000 students qualified under those guidelines. The tickets were distributed by the athletic association on a first-come, first-served basis.
Each Final Four school is given the same number of tickets and sets its own terms for dispersal. The remaining Final Four tickets are allotted to the local organizing committee, the NCAA, its committees and partners, other Division I schools and CBS, which is broadcasting the NCAA Tournament.
Gators fans without tickets are left to scour the Internet, where ticket prices range from $200 for seats in the upper deck of the spacious Georgia Dome to $66,632 for a 20-person suite.
On Monday afternoon, less than 24 hours after the semifinal matchups - Florida vs. UCLA and Ohio State vs. Georgetown - were set, eBay.com listed nine pages of Final Four ticket sellers.
Single-game tickets cost less, but are harder to find. Ticketsolutions.com listed an upper deck championship game ticket for $175. Tickets closer to the court were at least $2,000.
Ticket scalping is legal in Georgia if it doesn't occur within 1,000 feet of the Georgia Dome, World Congress Center and Centennial Olympic Park. But Greg Shaheen, the NCAA's senior vice president of basketball and business strategies, has a warning for scalpers.
"People who buy tickets that way are doing so at their own risk," Shaheen said.
"It's important for people to understand that unless they buy their tickets from the NCAA or one of the four institutions, they're not guaranteed of getting in."
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