Ohio State at Notre Dame Is The Hottest Ticket Of The 2023 Season
Taking a look at the upcoming college football season, there’s several games that jump out. But one much more than the others. Ohio State at Notre Dame. It’s the most in-demand ticket of the entire season.
StubHub analyzed ticket trends to reveal the top in-demand football programs and most popular games. The Crimson Tide is the most in demand program this year. Alabama sales are up 50% compared to the same time last season, hosting three of the top 10 highest-selling games of the season.
Michigan lands at #2. The Wolverines outsell rival Ohio State by 180%, with the Buckeyes falling just short of the top 10 at #11. The Wolverines and Buckeyes clash in the Big House in the #2 hottest-selling game of the season, doubling the sales of last year’s same rivalry matchup.
Notre Dame’s highly-anticipated 2023 home schedule is boosting demand. The Fighting Irish have twice the sales compared to the start of the 2022 season, and Ohio State is a big part of that. Notre Dame is hosting the #1 in-demand game of the season when they welcome Ohio State, driving 30% more sales of game #2 when the Buckeyes visit Michigan. Here’s the top 10 in-demand teams this year.
Ohio State dominates demand on the road.
The Bucks drive the biggest increase on average ticket prices as the visiting team, triggering a nearly 92% spike in average ticket sales for the teams they play on the road. The Buckeyes are in the two top-selling games of the season when they visit Notre Dame (#1 game). and Michigan (#2).
StubHub’s Top In-Demand College Football Games of 2023
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Ohio State Buckeyes at Notre Dame Fighting Irish on September 23
- Ohio State Buckeyes at Michigan Wolverines on November 25
- Texas Longhorns at Alabama Crimson Tide on September 9
- Iowa Hawkeyes at Penn State Nittany Lions on September 23
- Florida State Seminoles vs LSU Tigers* on on September 3
- USC Trojans at Notre Dame Fighting Irish on October 14
- West Virginia Mountaineers at Penn State Nittany Lions on September 2
- Tennessee Volunteers at Alabama Crimson Tide on October 21
- Ole Miss Rebels at Alabama Crimson Tide on September 23
- Army Black Knights vs Navy Midshipmen* on December 9
As Chris noted on air, that Texas at Alabama game will be a big one. The Tennessee and Ole Miss games at Bryant-Denny also made the top 10. Another big seller, the Florida State/LSU game is being held at Camping World Stadium in Orlando. I provided the links to each of the games so you can check on ticket prices.
Full data and insights from the college football preview can be found here.
College Football TV Schedule; Week 0
NBC
(Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)
2:30- Navy vs (13) Notre Dame (Dublin, Ireland)
The college football season kicks off with one of the sports biggest brands taking on one of the academy schools. Normally I am against neutral site games in college football. However the Irish playing in Ireland makes all the sense in the world.
CBSSN
(Photo by Mark Brown/Getty Images)
5:30- UTEP @ Jacksonville State
Hey, it’s football. So sit down and watch the game. Vegas is telling you this is supposed to be a good one as well with the game a pick em’.
9:00- FIU @ Louisiana Tech
The Panthers will start their 2023 campaign on the road in Ruston Louisiana. FIU is an 11-point underdog in the game, even though La Tech is coming off a 3-9 season.
ESPN
(Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images)
7:00- UMASS @ New Mexico State
The worldwide leader in sports only has one college football game in week 0. And UMass is arguably the worst program in FBS right now coming off of a 1 win season. And that win was against Stoneybrook. I honestly did not know they had a team. New Mexico State however is coming off a respectable 7-6 season with a win over Bowling Green in their bowl game.
SEC Network
(Photo by James Gilbert/Getty Images)
7:30- Hawaii @ Vanderbilt
Vanderbilt ended 2022 on a bit of a high note with wins over Florida and Kentucky. But the fan base is once again the butt of jokes as their stadium will only hold 28,000 this season due to contraction on both endzones. I feel bad the Hawaii kids won’t get to experience a full SEC stadium, even if it’s only Vanderbilt.
PAC 12 Network
(Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images)
8:00- San Jose State @ (6) USC
I’m still wondering why ESPN opted for UMass over USC. This game is expected to be a blowout, but Caleb Williams is entering the season with as much preseason Heisman hype as anyone since Tim Tebow came back for his senior season with the Gators. You probably don’t even know if you get the PAC 12 Network, so do some homework before you start scrambling 2 minutes before kickoff.
FS1
(Photo by Loren Orr/Getty Images)
7:00 Ohio- @ San Diego State
This matchup might not excite the casual college football fan. But this is a matchup of two bowl teams from last year that finished the season with a winning record. The Aztecs are 2-point favorites in a matchup that should be tightly contested.
