Ticket tricks: Spokane-area NCAA fans spend – or make – big bucks on Cougs, Bulldogs

For basketball fans in Spokane, that one shining moment might be when you turned a profit on NCAA Tournament tickets.

Excitement is building for March Madness. So, too, is the demand for NCAA Tournament tickets, especially for seats to watch the Gonzaga men this weekend.

That won’t be in Spokane but in Salt Lake City, where by Tuesday afternoon only a few dozen tickets were left for the Zags’ first-round game against McNeese State.

Those tickets were going for a minimum of $359 per seat in the rafters; no lower-level seats were available at any price.

For GU fans, this is playing out like some drawn-out game of musical chairs – or a real-life lesson in the risks of long-term investments.

It began last fall, when tickets at the Arena sold out within hours with the expectation that, thanks to a new NCAA rule, the Zags might open the tournament at the Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena.

Those hopes dimmed during a midseason fade by GU that left some wondering if the Zags would even make the tournament, let alone play in Spokane.

Some fans – the non-diehards who hadn’t planned on following the Zags to Salt Lake City – decided to sell, turning a nice profit for their Arena seats. Originally sold for $270 per ticket for all three sessions, on Tuesday the tickets were going for at least $450 each in the upper levels.

Lower-level seats were averaging more than $600.

And the thought that some poor Saint Mary’s fan would be coughing up that much money – priceless.

Meanwhile, hundreds of GU fans sold their Arena tickets and reinvested in this weekend’s games at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City. Call it chasing your passion with your credit card.

But this is March Madness, and there are no bargains anywhere.

Washington State fans journeying to Omaha to watch their Cougars in the tournament for the first time since 2008 will pay for the privilege.

By Tuesday, fewer than 100 tickets remained for sale at the CHI Health Center Arena, where the Cougs face Drake on Thursday night. Average prices as of Tuesday were about $650 per seat for all three sessions.

WSU fans can expect to be outnumbered by those from Drake, located about two hours from Omaha in Des Moines, Iowa.

The budget-conscious fan might consider a trip to the McCarthey Athletic Center, where the Gonzaga women are hosting first- and second-round NCAA games.

All-session tickets were $146 each, but the Kennel was almost sold out by Tuesday. That isn’t surprising, as the Zags’ first-round game against UC Irvine on Saturday is the program’s first NCAA home game since 2013.