Furman ... a tough ticket?
By Joe McAdory
Have trouble finding tickets for the Auburn-Furman game last Saturday? From what I saw, there were plenty more fingers in the air begging for two or three tickets than tickets in the air begging to be purchased. Hundreds of folks scoured the outside area of Jordan-Hare Stadium, mostly with children in-tow, looking for cheap seats to an unheralded game. It was going to be a blowout. Everyone knew that. Everyone knew plenty of tickets would be available outside for dirt cheap.
Except they weren’t.
Inside the stadium, the majority of seats in the corners of the east upper deck, which is most often sold to the visiting schools, were left unfilled. So, if these seats were unfilled, why were tickets so hard to come by? I have two theories.
1. Furman’s unsold tickets—and there were plenty—went back to Auburn’s ticket office to sell back to the general public. Face value of these tickets was $35 a pop. Now, would you rather pay $35 for a ticket to the Furman game, or find one outside the stadium that morning for $15 or less? That seemed to be the game plan. After all, it had worked before. But if these $35 tickets remained unsold inside the confines of the ticket office, then they weren’t available for purchase outside the stadium from folks trying to get rid of them.
2. Through September, Auburn’s season ticket book had not been sold out. This included the Furman game, obviously. It also included the Alabama game. It’s feasible to think Alabama fans would scoop up remaining Auburn season tickets to ensure themselves of these seats for the Iron Bowl.
