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Getting Tickets to High Demand Sporting Events
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Have you set your fantasy football lineups yet? 
On the eve of the start of the regular season of the National Football League, I wanted to put together a post that any sports fan could enjoy. A post about how to get free tickets to premier sporting events across the country.
Ever look in the stands of the Super Bowl and why in the world those folks spent all that money to watch a mere sixty minutes of football? Even the worst Super Bowl tickets can go for thousands of dollars. However, did you know that the NFL distributes approximately 500 pairs of tickets in an annual random drawing? You still have to buy the tickets at face value but that’s $400 rather than several thousand. (here’s more information about it and tips for increasing your chances)
Did you know that there are plenty of sports events where the governing association does the same thing as the NFL – they lottery off tickets at face value.
Golf: The USGA has a lottery in which they have information about tickets for a variety of tournaments, including the U.S. Open, U.S. Women’s Open, and the U.S. Senior Open.
Little League World Series: The LLWS just ended, with the kids of Chula Vista, CA taking home the trophy but you can never be too early for next year. Tickets for every game except the Championship game are free. For the Championship game, the tickets are still free but are distributed through a lottery with the instructions for the 2009 LLWS here.
NCAA Final Four: If you want to participate in March Madness, you can find out about getting NCAA tournament tickets here. Applications are accepted from March 15th through May 31st the preceding year with winners notified in July.
If you know of any other ticket lotteries, please let me know and I’ll amend this list.
(Photo: rmtip21)
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That’s pretty cool about the LLWS tickets.
Several years ago, I attended the women’s NCAA tournament on a regular basis. This was back when the 1-4 seeds hosted first and second round games (rather than neutral sites), and my alma mater was usually a 3/4 seed. Tickets for those games were just a small fraction of price for tickets to the men’s games, of course.
Forget Super Bowl tickets, the cost of regular season games is down right out of reach for most middle income families.
My suggestion is get to know season ticket holders! There are usually games they can’t make and they’ll often sell the tickets at below market to make a quick sale.
Being on a few season ticket holders lists of potential last minute buyers can put you in postion. But you have to be ready to move fast and pony up the cash.
A lottery at face value is also the only way to get tickets to the practice rounds at the Masters golf tournament as well.
Sliding off topic here … but my blog’s sports writer was at this year’s Masters and wrote about the experience. I completely forgot about it when I posted my earlier comment
http://www.observingcasually.com/the-masters/
(Jim – feel free to delete this if you don’t want links to other sites within your comments – no big deal)
The link to more info about the Super Bowl tickets random drawing has the wrong address to which to send the request. Here’s the correct, up-to-date info from NFL.com’s FAQ page [http://www.nfl.com/help/faq]:
How can I buy Super Bowl tickets?
The only method the NFL has to distribute tickets to the public is through a random drawing. There is no other way for the general public to purchase tickets. The NFL does not sell tickets to travel or ticket agents.
Entries for the random drawing are accepted between Feb. 1 and June 1 of the year preceding the game in question. All ticket requests must be sent via certified or registered mail. Those selected in the random drawing will have the opportunity to purchase two tickets.
Requests for Super Bowl XLIV, to be played Feb. 7, 2010 in South Florida, will be accepted beginning Feb. 1, 2009. They should be sent to:
Super Bowl Random Drawing
P.O. Box 49140
Strongsville, OH 44149-0140
Please note that only one request per address is accepted. All duplicate requests will be disregarded.
A football game is 60 minutes, not 45. Of course, it’s all the bloody commercials that make it run to 3 1/4 hours or longer.