Tech ticket holders weigh seeing game, making big bucks
By Eric Finley | AVALANCHE-JOURNAL
Add school loyalty to the list of things that have a price.
Saturday’s game, between No. 7 ranked Texas Tech and No. 1 Texas, is probably the biggest in Red Raider history. But for season ticket holders, it could be the biggest payoff they’ve ever had as well. For some that’s just to much to pass up.
“I want Tech to win, but if I get $1,000 for the tickets I’ll take the money and run,” said Don, a season ticket holder who declined to give his last name. He’s one of hundreds who have put their tickets on the market. Other opportunists are seeking weekend renters for spare rooms, houses, even tailgate-partying motor coaches.
Don said he’d go to the game if he had no takers. But he’s willing to part ways with his pair of tickets for $500 each, and it really doesn’t matter if the buyer is clad in Raider red or burnt orange.
“I’m not anti-Longhorn, I’m an anti-Aggie fan,” he said, referring to Tech rival Texas A&M. “I’ll sell to a Texas fan.”
“With the $1,000 for the two tickets, I could pay for the whole season and have a little money left over.”
It’s a smart investment, even if tickets go to fans of the other team. A pair of season tickets this year could be had for as little as $380 – good for seven games – while the same tickets to only this weekend’s game were selling online for prices similar to what Don wanted.
But selling tickets to opposing fans is a big taboo in other parts of the country and Big 12 Conference.
Fans of the Nebraska Cornhuskers pride themselves on traveling so well “they can turn another stadium into a sea of red,” said Jeff Wilkerson, program director for ESPN Radio 1480 AM in Lincoln, Neb. Fans there say they once had more Cornhuskers at an away game against Notre Dame than the Irish did, he said.
But it doesn’t mean they’ll let another team pack Memorial Stadium.
“To a lot of Nebraska fans, if you’re not wearing red you’re not buying a ticket,” Wilkerson said.
“It is an unwritten rule you don’t sell to an opposing team.”
Large numbers of tickets were available Wednesday afternoon on Internet auction sites.
Not everyone was interested in selling tickets. They had other ways to make money.
Artis Payne, a retired Lubbock resident, had an Internet ad to rent his South Lubbock home. He decided to ask $600 for Friday-Sunday after reports earlier this week that hotels were filling up.
“I’m going to rent the whole house. I have a friend I can stay with,” he said.
A Red Raider season ticket holder for football and basketball, Payne said he’d rather not rent his home to a Longhorn.
“I do favor Tech,” he said.
As of Wednesday morning he hadn’t received any calls. Neither had Darin Benton, who posted an online ad for a 43-foot luxury motor coach. His said he’d leave it parked near the United Spirit Arena from Friday evening to Sunday afternoon for fans who wanted to “eat, sleep and party.”
Asking price: $2,000.
And like others, the Tech grad wasn’t too worried whose team it went to.
“I’m kind of impartial,” he said. “I’m looking for a good renter.”
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Do not do the old, tired blackout thing.
If Texas Tech had declared it, or Captain Leach asked, I would…
But I’m not going to line the pockets of the Red Raider Outfitter, sorry…
The news said they had sold 10,000 shirts already Tuesday…
This whole thing was drummed up by them to make sales
The Red Raider Outfitter has had many run ins with the university before,
So support Tech by wearing red or black, BUT DON’T BUY FROM THE RED RAIDER OUTFITTER.
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if you are a Tech season ticket holder and you sell your tickets to a UT fan, then you should have your right to buy future season tickets revoked. Simply selfish.
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I own season tickets and there is absolutely NO WAY I am missing this game regardless of how much they are selling for. How often do the football gods grant us the opportunity for Tech and Texas to go into November undefeated AND playing in Lubbock? I cannot wait until kickoff!
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money is temporary, pride is forever
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I have already bought my tickets from Red Raiders and everyone I know has as well. It is going to be a burnt orange sea in the cracker jack box.
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Keep dreaming, Britches..what a stupid name, btw. You are too big for your britches, and you are delusional if you think there will be a sea of that disgusting orange color at Jones. It will be 95% red & black screaming at your team the whole game!
GO RAIDERS, WRECK ‘EM TECH!
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Any true Tech fan would not sell their season tickets to anyone other than another Tech fan.
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I cannot imagine a true Tech fan selling their season ticket to anyone, much less a fan of the opposing team. How many years have they been going to these games and, now that we have a chance to really have a great season, they sell their tickets? They are probably some of the fans I see at games who never stand up except to go to the bathroom or leave at halftime and constantly criticize every move the Tech coaches make.
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Don = Choad
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Have you guys even been on ebay, craigslist, or any other ticket selling venue anywhere in the us on the internet… dcareatickets.com has over 100 tickets to the game??? Ebay…. many thousand have sold over the last two weeks… I have been trying to find reasonable tickets for over a week and can not find any…. I am a tech alum and fan and have talked to numerous season tickets holder who have been trying to sell their tix for over $500 each… I talked to somone who had 50 yd line seats about 20 minutes ago and offered her $500 for two tickets and she told me she was going to put them on ebay because she could get mroe for them…. I am extremely disappointed at all the sell-out tech fans…. There will be a large amount of puke burnt orange all over jones stadium and more than you think located in the big donor sections!!!
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