Women’s Final Four secondary ticket market outpaces men’s

By MARK ANDERSON
AP Sports Writer

Tickets prices on the secondary market are substantially higher for the women’s Final Four than for the men.

The women play in a much smaller venue, but they also have more recognizable names in the their Final Four. Only UConn on the men’s side is anything close to a traditional power.

One of the women’s stars is Iowa’s Caitlin Clark, who was honored as the AP Player of the Year on Thursday.

“I think it’s pretty incredible,” Clark said of the difference in ticket prices. “I think it’s starting to get the viewership, the attention, things like that that it deserves. When people really turn on the TV or sit in the seat, they understand how good the product is and how much fun it is to watch.”

An all-session ticket for the women’s Final Four was at least $475 on StubHub and $335 on Vivid Seats, before fees, as of 3 p.m. EDT Thursday. Men’s all-sessions tickets were going for at least $65 and $66, respectively.

The women’s semifinals on Friday, which is headlined by the matchup of Clark’s Hawkeyes against undefeated, top-ranked and defending champion South Carolina, start at $222 on StubHub and $184 on Vivid Seats. That compares to $45 and $44 for Saturday’s semifinals on the men’s side.

“It’s been building towards this for a long time,” South Carolina coach Dawn Staley said. “Fortunately for us — not just South Carolina, but us as women’s basketball — we’ve got a lot of star power behind our sport.”

Tickets for Sunday’s women’s championship game begin at $167 on StubHub and $131 on Vivid Seats, and Monday’s men’s title game is at $45 and $37.

The men are playing in Houston’s NRG Stadium, home of the NFL’s Texans, which seats close to 75,000. The women are at Dallas’ American Airlines Center, home of the NBA’s Mavericks and NHL’s Stars, which has nearly 20,000 seats.

“It’s pretty neat that it’s sold out,” LSU coach Kim Mulkey said. “The cheapest ticket is more expensive than the cheapest ticket in Houston for the men’s Final Four. I thought that was eye-catching.”

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AP March Madness coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness and bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-mens-bracket and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25

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AP women’s college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/womens-college-basketball and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-womens-college-basketball-poll and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25