The March Madness college basketball “Sweet 16” games come back to the Chase Center Thursday, but ticket prices for the games here are slumping, thanks to low-interest match-ups of schools that are located 2,000 or so miles away.
When the NCAA men’s basketball tournament known as March Madness first came to the Chase Center in 2022, ticket prices went through the roof. That’s because blue-chip powerhouse teams Gonzaga (Ranked No. 1 at the time) and Duke were in the tournament games played here, and two of those games were potentially the last games for legendary Duke coach Mike “Coach K” Krzyzewski, as he announced he’d be retiring once the tournament ended.
Now three years later, March Madness is coming back to the Chase Center this weekend. But there is little madness in the rush for tickets. The price of seats has actually fallen since the start of the 64-team tournament, and according to the Bay Area News Group, the Chase Center tickets are going for substantially cheaper than the other three arenas that have Sweet 16 games this weekend.
“On Monday morning, two tickets for both sessions at Chase Center – the Sweet 16 games on Thursday and Elite 8 game Saturday – were as low as $378 each on StubHub,” the News Group’s analysis says. “By comparison, two tickets for both the Sweet 16 and Elite 8 sessions at the South Regional in Atlanta on Friday and Sunday were going for $865 each. The Midwest Regional in Indianapolis for both sessions had a get-in price of $551 each and the East Regional in Newark, NJ, had a two-session price of $445 apiece for two tickets.”
For many San Franciscans, it makes little sense to hear the words “cheaper” and “Chase Center” in the same sentence. But the reasons for this have nothing to do with the Chase Center, and everything to do with the teams that are playing here.
For starters, the games being played here this weekend do not involve teams that traditionally have rich alumni fan bases who tend to travel to games a lot (which was the case with Duke in 2022). And also significantly, the four teams playing here this weekend are Arkansas, Florida, Maryland, and Texas Tech. Despite this being described as the “West Regional” part of the tournament, those teams are hardly west coast teams, and they all play between 1,500 and 3,000 miles away.
Regardless, here’s you Chase Center March Madness schedule for this weekend:
Thursday, March 27
- Florida vs Maryland (4:39 pm PT)
- Texas Tech vs Arkansas (7:09 pm PT)
Saturday, March 29
- The two winners play each other (Time TBD)
And no, notorious San Francisco hater Charles Barkley will not be here. He will be on the pregame, halftime, and postgame shows, but those are shot at a studio in Atlanta.
Image: SAN FRANCISCO, CA - MARCH 26: An aerial view of Chase Center and the surrounding area ahead of the 2022 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament on March 26, 2022 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Lance King/Getty Images)
