Men’s NCAA Tickets Sold Out Before Public Sales Even Open

All-session tickets for the 2019 men’s NCAA Championships have sold out ahead of the official opening of ticket sales to the general public.

Tickets were slated to go on sale tomorrow, February 1. But the ticket sales page currently shows tickets listed as “sold out” for the men’s meet, which will take place from March 27-30 at the University of Texas.

Prior to the opening of tickets to the public, teams are allowed to request tickets. Up to 40 per team are treated as priority. Typically, teams sell these tickets to parents of athletes who qualify, but the team tickets can also go to alumni or friends of the program. Requesting or buying tickets early is a gamble, as NCAA invites aren’t finalized until early March, and invites for most athletes are still very much in flux as of January.

It appears the team request period has bought out the entire stock of men’s NCAA tickets. The Lee & Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center lists its spectator seating at 2100 grandstand seats. That’s relatively large compared to most college venues – we ran through some of the top collegiate pools in spectator capacity last year, when tickets to the men’s NCAA meet in Minneapolis, MN also sold out early.

Women’s NCAA swimming & diving tickets go on sale tomorrow morning at 10:00 AM. The ticket website still indicates that all-session tickets for that meet are available. That meet happens a week earlier, from March 20-23, also in Austin, TX.

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phelps swims 200 breast rio
5 years ago

I was actually thinking about making a road trip out there a few weeks ago for the finals. Bummer the tickets have sold out. I remember being in the stands at UT Austin in 85 for the NCAA finals. I don’t think it cost more than a few dollars to get in, open seating. Our sport has grown!

Gator
5 years ago

Interesting statistic- the 50th largest capacity high school football stadium in Texas holds 11,000 people…..

https://www.star-telegram.com/sports/dfwvarsity/prep-football/article170468092.html

Admin
Reply to  Gator
5 years ago

And it may be hard to believe…but for big games, rivalry games, games that might decide District titles…even at that size, there will be scalpers outside selling tickets for well over face value.

The district I was in in high school (the one with the 6,000 seat basketball arena, which could be 10,000 seats for a concert or graduation style setup) had a 9,800 seat stadium. One year, a game between Katy and Cinco Ranch, tickets were rumored to be selling for $100 or more.

Of course, that was in the old stadium, which at 9,786 seats no longer cracks the top 50. That stadium is still open, but they’ve now built a new 12,000 seat stadium (the one in… Read more »

KDSwim
5 years ago

For invited swimmers they can get two tickets. Are these from the team tickets or are these separate from an NCAA allocation? What if your team did not “buy” tickets and you make it? No tickets for you?

Admin
Reply to  KDSwim
5 years ago

KDSwim – yes, that’s my understanding. Everyone who participates in the process is a little shy about sharing exact details, because everyone knows it’s a bad system but it’s a bad system that benefits them, so they don’t want too much attention drawn to it. It’s possible that if you have a surprise qualifier and your team didn’t buy any tickets, NCAA will give you first shot at returned tickets, but I don’t know that for certain.

I know that I’ve already seen at least 1 person (affiliated with Texas) who says that they’re going to resell their tickets. Didn’t explicitly say “for more than face value,” but I sure do hope not.

Admin
Reply to  KDSwim
5 years ago

Without giving away which team you’re affiliated with…..I don’t believe there’s an actual direct-from-NCAA entitlement to 2 tickets/swimmer. The teams are entitled to 40 tickets, and can divide them however they like. Because your child is on a team that usually sends lots of qualifiers, this 2/swimmer system is probably the fairest way they have to divide up their tickets. A team that’s more mid-level, that usually sends 6-8 qualifiers, might enact a 3-per swimmer of 4-per swimmer system. It gets even more complicated when you throw in divers – because teams can actually take more than 18 athletes, because divers don’t count as full roster spots. It also gets more complicated for teams that like to use access to… Read more »

KDSwim
Reply to  Braden Keith
5 years ago

Thanks. As far as reselling tickets the student athletes are told they can’t sell them as that would violate NCAA rules on making money from swimming. Each team is supposed to have a rep at meet and give out tickets to the sudent’s designated people and check IDs. The meet info for Austin does call out a place for these reps.

Admin
Reply to  KDSwim
5 years ago

The comments that I have seen aren’t student athletes, nor their parents.

It’s probably still against some rule, somewhere, though. And if it isn’t, then it should be.

Fighting Quaker
Reply to  KDSwim
5 years ago

KDSWIM, the NCAA does not allocate 2 tickets per invited swimmer. Teams can request any amount before sale to public, with only 40 guaranteed. But the team (or booster club) has to pay for the tickets up front. If your team did not request tickets, you are out of luck. Last year, I called the NCAA and complained, politely but very persistently, until they found two tickets for us. IMO, the very first priority should be two tickets per invited swimmer, which of course is not known until after league championships, so that number of tickets should be reserved until then.

ERVINFORTHEWIN
5 years ago

Will we get ” Super Andy ” as the specialist commentator again for the whole meet ?? that would be so so cool .

Admin
Reply to  ERVINFORTHEWIN
5 years ago

Oh my god I hope so!

Small bird
Reply to  ERVINFORTHEWIN
5 years ago

I would start a gofundme for Andy’s weekend trip to Texas so we can have high quality commentary. I’d also buy him a beer in Austin. I bet the swimswam community could raise $1000 to bring him to Austin. I don’t any of the rules about him being allowed to broadcast / what broadcaust rights NCAA has though

Right Dude Here
Reply to  ERVINFORTHEWIN
5 years ago

FULL OF SWIMMING

Back2Back
5 years ago

How about live feed the meet over the JUMBO TRON at DKR Memorial Stadium next door with 100,000+ seats. Alternately, just set up the temporary pool on the field… They sell beer there too!!!

ScottishDragon
5 years ago

Nothing says “good ol’ boys club” like not allowing the public to be involved

Bevo
5 years ago

Great to see we’re selling out one of the greatest events in college athletics. The Texas Swim Center was designed for this type of meet. All seats for spectators are armchair seats as I recall. That’s why everyone wants to come and smaller teams with fewer qualifiers take their full allotment. Great venue, fast swimming, great diving, terrific hosts. Every Power 5 conference has contenders and it will be the 2nd biggest 2020 preview after the Women’s meet the week before. See you in Austin!

He Said What?
5 years ago

This reminds me of the Olympics. Large sections of venues are empty not because the tickets were not sold, but because the tickets are set aside for corporations who purchase the tickets for employees, execs, etc., and they never go! There are empty seats galore that no one is allowed to sit in. Not cool.

Texas parent
Reply to  He Said What?
5 years ago

I was thinking of the same thing regarding trials… totally agree

About Jared Anderson

Jared Anderson

Jared Anderson swam for nearly twenty years. Then, Jared Anderson stopped swimming and started writing about swimming. He's not sick of swimming yet. Swimming might be sick of him, though. Jared was a YMCA and high school swimmer in northern Minnesota, and spent his college years swimming breaststroke and occasionally pretending …

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