The tumultuous upsets in the NCAA Tournament's South Regional have dropped ticket resale prices for "Sweet 16" games at Philips Arena to the lowest level of any of the four regional semifinal sites.
That’s according to secondary-ticket marketplace TickPick, which said the average price on its site for the Kentucky-Kansas State and Nevada-Loyola Chicago doubleheader in Atlanta on Thursday was $304.14 as of Monday.
Not cheap, but below TickPick’s averages of $387.44 for the East Regional semifinals in Boston (Villanova-West Virginia and Purdue-Texas A&M), $394.72 for the West semis in Los Angeles (Gonzaga-FSU and Michigan-Texas A&M) and a whopping $816.58 for the Midwest semis in Omaha (Kansas-Clemson and Duke-Syracuse).
The top four seeds in the South -- No. 1 Virginia, No. 2 Cincinnati, No. 3 Tennessee and No. 4 Arizona -- were eliminated before reaching Philips Arena, marking the first time in March Madness history that a region failed to send any of its top four seeds to the Sweet 16. The highest-remaining South seed, No. 5 Kentucky, and its large and avid fan base are responsible for keeping the average ticket resale price as high as it is.
Nevada and Loyola-Chicago will meet at 7:07 p.m. Thursday at Philips, followed by the Kentucky-Kansas State game. The winners will play Saturday for a berth in the Final Four in San Antonio.
READ ON …
> Atlanta's South Regional is one big surprise party, Steve Hummer writes.
> The South is Kentucky's to lose, which isn't to say it can't, Mark Bradley writes.
> Here's a look at the four teams coming to Philips Arena.
