LIKE IT IS

There are college football bargains to be found

Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel (2) is joined by wide receiver Kenric McNeal (5) and defensive back Dustin Harris (22) as they celebrate a win over top-ranked Alabama at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa, Ala., Saturday, Nov. 10, 2012. This year's game is at the top of a list for most expensive tickets for the 2013 college football season that U.S. Presswire released. (AP Photo/Dave Martin)
Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel (2) is joined by wide receiver Kenric McNeal (5) and defensive back Dustin Harris (22) as they celebrate a win over top-ranked Alabama at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa, Ala., Saturday, Nov. 10, 2012. This year's game is at the top of a list for most expensive tickets for the 2013 college football season that U.S. Presswire released. (AP Photo/Dave Martin)

U.S. Presswire released a list of the most expensive tickets for the 2013 college football season last week.

The Alabama at Texas A&M game led the list with a whopping asking price of $626.42. Hopefully that includes a parking space and a “thanks for coming.”

Understand, that price does not include the mandatory donation to the A&M Foundation that is required to buy a ticket. That’s the asking price on a website.

The second-most expensive ticket was LSU at TCU in Cowboys Stadium at $584.13.

The list included the top 30 ticket prices for single games, and SEC teams were involved in 16 of those games. Three SEC schools dominated the list: LSU had five games on the list and Alabama and Florida had four each.

Absent from the list were any games involving Arkansas, Ole Miss, Missouri, Vanderbilt, Kentucky and Tennessee.

Ironically, a letter was forwarded to me last week. It was written by a very wise, discerning and successful businessman.

It was sent to Sean Rochelle, executive director of the Razorback Foundation, and Jeff Long, vice chancellor and director of athletics at the University of Arkansas.

The author, who will remain nameless, although it is suspected that many know who wrote the letter, revealed his long relationship with the Razorbacks, calling himself a “rabid fan.”

He was upset - not angry - about Arkansas’ schedule. Well, not all of it. It was mostly about Samford being on the schedule.

Not only did the schedule include a team from what was commonly known as Division I-AA until the NCAA changed the name to the Football Championship Subdivision- as opposed to the Football Bowl Subdivision, where the bigger schools play - but the game is in Little Rock, where there is an extra fee tacked on to get a ticket.

Samford, a fine religious-based school in Birmingham, Ala., run by Andy Westmoreland, an outstanding man who is the former president of prestigious Ouachita Baptist University, probably turns out more ministers than pro football players.

At the end of the well-written and passionate letter, the author stated that he would no longer buy his ticket through the UA, where he also would have to make a donation to the Razorback Foundation.

Instead, he was confident he could find a ticket on Stub-Hub or eBay.

He signed the letter respectfully and sent a copy to his daughter and Arkansas Coach Bret Bielema.

Somehow, not by coincidence, it ended up in my email. The letter, and the recent story about the most expensive tickets in all of college football, sent your trusty scribe to the great wonderland known as the Internet.

Interestingly, one can purchase tickets to the Samford game at War Memorial Stadium on Sept. 7 for less than face value. The tickets, probably in the end zone, are priced from $37 and only 801 remained.

However, that wasn’t the least expensive game on Arkansas’ schedule.

There were 1,672 tickets available for the Aug. 31 season opener against the Louisiana-Lafayette Ragin’ Cajuns in Fayetteville for as little as $12. Granted, they probably aren’t just in the end zone but in the nosebleed section of the end zone.

Those weren’t the only tickets below face value available on StubHub.

You can see the Razorbacks play the Southern Miss Golden Eagles on Sept. 14 in Fayetteville for $14. No need to hurry, though, because there are 1,826 tickets remaining.

Actually, according to StubHub, the games with the fewest tickets remaining are in The Rock. Generally, it costs more to see the Hogs on the road than at home.

However, if you would just like to see an SEC team in action, on Oct. 26 you can see Ole Miss host the Idaho Vandals for $5. Or you can just go to The Grove and say you went to the game.

Sports, Pages 17 on 07/10/2013

Upcoming Events