The popularity of women's college basketball has pushed the price of resale tickets to the NCAA Final Four tournament north of $2,000 this week, according to Logitix, a technology company that scans prices across multiple platforms.
The college basketball tournament — one of the most wagered on sports events in the nation — is coming to a close this week. In the women's bracket, Iowa will face the University of Connecticut on Friday while, later that day, the University of South Carolina will take on North Carolina State University.
The average price of a ticket sold to the NCAA women's semifinals was $2,323, while the average sale price for the men's was $1,001.21, Logitix reported Wednesday. Prices for the women's tournament have shot up amid surging demand for tickets, buoyed by stellar on-court performances of Louisiana State University's Angel Reese and the University of Iowa's Caitlin Clark.
Clark, Reese and other stars are "inspiring a new era of fandom and engagement," Chris Leyden, SeatGeek's growth marketing director, told CBS MoneyWatch this week.
The higher prices are also partially due to the more limited supply of tickets. Seating capacity at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse in Cleveland where both women's finals games will be played is 19,423.
By comparison, the 63,400-seat State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, where the men's games will take place is three times larger. The average ticket price for the men's semifinals this year is $993.70, compared with $636.43 in 2023, Logitix said.
Meanwhile, the price for this year's women's Final Four games has dwarfed last year's cost. Including data from sales made a month ago and longer, the average price for the women's semifinals is $1,131.78, compared with $400.29 for the same period in 2023, the company said.
Devoted sports fans have been captivated by the women's tournament this year, as evidenced by record-breaking viewership numbers. About 12.3 million people watched the game earlier this week between LSU and Iowa — the highest viewership in a women's college basketball game ever. The previous record was 11.8 million viewers in 1983 for the NCAA women's championship game between the University of Southern California and Louisiana Tech.
Online sports betting platform FanDuel said the LSU-Iowa faceoff was also the most bet-on women's game ever, either collegiate or professional, CNBC reported.
Viewership in both men and women's college basketball has indeed climbed in recent years, bolstered mostly by college-educated men who watch on online streaming services. About 22% of internet-using Americans watch NCAA basketball, according to a survey from S&P Global Market Intelligence Kagan. The survey also found that 7% of respondents watch women's college basketball, a figure that increased to 9% this month.
—The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Khristopher J. Brooks is a reporter for CBS MoneyWatch. He previously worked as a reporter for the Omaha World-Herald, Newsday and the Florida Times-Union. His reporting primarily focuses on the U.S. housing market, the business of sports and bankruptcy.
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