MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Anyone waiting for their frozen pizza to come out of the oven before buying tickets to the Morgantown Regional would have been short of luck.
West Virginia associate athletics director Matt Wells said it took less than 15 minutes Wednesday to sell out Monongalia County Ballpark for this weekend’s NCAA tournament games.
Granted, by the time tickets were released to the general public, there was not much left to go around. Season-ticket holders had first priority, followed by members of the Mountaineer Athletic Club. By the time those requests were filled, Wells said 500-600 standing room only tickets remained for the public.
There are still tickets available for WVU students in Section 109, which is the student section during the regular season. Full-time students can attend games West Virginia plays in for free with valid student ID. If that section fills up, they’ll be provided with general admission tickets.
“We anticipate being able to honor every student who comes to the game in Section 109,” Wells said.
With the park stuffed to its 3,500-person capacity, the berm down the left-field line will open up to fans.
Wells said additional tickets might come available on game day. Each visiting school has an allotment of 200 tickets, and if any are unused they will be made available to the public after 10 a.m. Friday.
Fans who regularly attend games will notice a few differences in the ballpark. Because it is an NCAA event, the home team isn’t allowed any perceived advantages – thus, no walk-up music for batters or WVU hype videos on the scoreboard.
“You won’t see the same home-field atmopshere from the video board and music, but certainly we expect the home-field atmosphere from the Mountaineer fans,” Wells said.
Given the demand, the secondary ticket market is robust. The lowest price listed on Stubhub for West Virginia’s Friday night game against Fordham is $100. At a starting price of $60, Corvallis, Ore., is the only other regional to have tickets being sold over $50 on the secondary market.
