A scheduling decision is impacting the College Football Playoff championship game and ticket prices have plummeted
- Undefeated college football heavyweights Alabama and Clemson will meet in the college football playoff for the fourth time in as many years and in the national championship game for the third time in that same span.
- With the 2019 national championship game being played thousands of miles away from both Alabama and Clemson at Levi Stadium in Santa Clara, California, ticket prices for this year's event have plummeted.
- According to TickPick — a no-fee secondary ticket marketplace — ticket prices were 57% higher to watch last year's title game between the Crimson Tide and the Georgia Bulldogs in Atlanta.
Between wunderkind quarterbacks, explosive offenses, and two of the best defenses in the game, the 2019 national championship game between the Alabama Crimson Tide and the Clemson Tigers — the two most dominant programs in college football of late — promises to be one for the ages.
But you wouldn't know it looking at ticket prices for this year's event.
According to TickPick — a no-fee secondary ticket marketplace — the average listing price for a ticket to the 2019 national championship game is currently at $1,011 with a "get-in" of $177.
On average, ticket prices for last year's title game between the Crimson Tide and the Georgia Bulldogs in Atlanta were 57% higher, with a "get-in" price of $430 and an average listing price of $2,374 on the day of the event.
Many have cited fatigue as the cause for the dip in ticket prices this year. After all, the two sides are facing off in the college football playoff for the fourth time in as many years and in the national championship game for the third time in that same span.
But according to TickPick, the average listing price of tickets on the day of the 2017 national title game was $2,966, just one year after the Crimson Tide took down Clemson 45-40 for the college football playoff title in 2016.
- Read more: WHERE ARE THEY NOW? The stars of the first national championship game between Alabama and Clemson
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So what is the major difference between that 2017 matchup and this year's contest? 1,847 miles.
The average distance between Alabama's and Clemson's home fields and the 2017 game site at Tampa's Raymond James Stadium was 579 miles, per Rovell. This year, meanwhile, the national championship game will be played at Levi Stadium in Santa Clara, California, a whopping 2,282 miles away from Alabama's Bryant–Denny Stadium and 2,570 miles from Clemson Memorial Stadium. According to ticketIQ, this is the longest distance that two teams have had to travel to get to the national championship game site in a decade.
For the die-hard Crimson Tide and Tigers fans willing to embark on a cross-country expedition, an over $800 discount to watch wunderkinds Tua Tagovailoa and Trevor Lawrence face off under the brightest lights is a sweet deal. But the Bay Area is known to be a costly place to visit, and many fans have likely opted to avoid the added costs of hotels and meals in one of America's most expensive cities.
And with no West Coast-based team participating in the national championship game, Bay Area locals have no stake in the game in the truest sense. People who live near Levi Stadium are unlikely to turn out to watch two teams from the Southeast compete.
Ultimately, scheduling this game in Santa Clara has proven to be a disaster not only for the Clemson and Alabama fan bases but also for those seeking to profit off of the contest. As kickoff rapidly approaches, this game is more and more likely to become the first CFP National Championship to not sell out.