Need tickets to the Notre Dame/ASU football game? It’ll cost you

Use this interactive map to review ticket prices as of Thursday, Oct. 30, for the Notre Dame/Arizona State football game.
Photo by Thomas Mitchell

Thursday, Oct. 30, 2014
By THOMAS MITCHELL 
Cronkite News

TEMPE – It’s been 26 years since Notre Dame football won a national championship, but the cost of tickets for Arizona State’s Nov. 8 home game proves the Fighting Irish are still in high demand.

As of Thursday afternoon, the lowest price for a single ticket through online ticket broker StubHub was $165, which buys a seat overlooking the end zone from the Sun Devil Stadium’s upper deck. Similar seats for ASU’s home games against Pac-12 rivals Utah and Washington State are selling for less than $40.

The highest price: $1,303.29 apiece for four lower-level seats near the 50-yard-line.

Considering ASU and Notre Dame are still in the national playoff hunt with 6-1 records, veteran ticket broker Bruce Genzburg isn’t surprised that people are willing to pay the higher prices.

“I sell based on where the market is,” Genzburg said. “Here, you’re talking about Notre Dame, which has a tradition with a following that will buy tickets before the season even starts. This is also the only weekend that ASU and the Cardinals both have home games, and a lot of visitors like to see both if they’re traveling far.”

Genzburg has been running Jack’s Tickets in Tempe for 30 years, selling tourists thousands of tickets to Sun Devil games in that span. He said he has noticed a much higher demand for the Notre Dame game compared to previous home games, including the Oct. 18 win over reigning Pac-12 champion Stanford.

Lower-level tickets to the Stanford game on websites StubHub and Craigslist sold for as little as $50. Genzburg said he’s selling tickets to the Notre Dame game for anywhere from $160 and up.

ASU’s ticket office envisioned such a desire for Notre Dame tickets that it packaged them with less-popular sporting events. In order to purchase a ticket to the Notre Dame game from the ASU ticket office, one must purchase a mini-plan, which includes a ticket to the game against Washington State on Nov. 22.

“Due to the stature and history of the opponent, we anticipated a much higher demand for the game,” said Michael Meitin, ASU’s director of ticket sales and service. “We wanted people to commit to Sun Devil Athletics for multiple games other than just one.”

Meitin said he expects to see significant numbers of Irish supporters in Tempe for the game after sending 5,000 tickets to Notre Dame to sell to its fans. He said most visiting schools sell around 1,500 tickets to their fans, and no other school has requested and sold more than 3,000.

Those buying tickets through Notre Dame had to purchase a plan that includes tickets to ASU men’s basketball games.

In addition, Notre Dame fans can pay $150-plus through brokers selling tickets purchased from season ticket holders.

“Our season ticket holders don’t always keep their tickets and root for us,” Meitin said. “Sometimes they’ll give or sell their seats to friends, family or anyone else who might be fans of opposing teams. We anticipate a large Notre Dame contingent, but we did the best we could to sell to Sun Devil fans first.”

There’s a significant Notre Dame following in the Valley, and many of them are expected to attend the game, said Marc Echeveste, spokesman for the Notre Dame Club of Phoenix, an alumni group that encompasses all of Arizona except Tucson and has 2,000 registered members.

Echeveste said he doesn’t blame ASU for requiring fans wanting tickets to see Notre Dame to also purchase tickets for additional games.

“College athletics in general are becoming a lot more expensive for the average fan, but that’s the reality of the situation,” he said. “More people want to come to see this game than there are tickets.”