Are Canes Fans Winning the Enthusiasm Battle against LSU?

Our friends at andthevalleyshook.com, the SB Nation community for LSU, tweeted something interesting relating to our shared season opener on September 2nd.

Obviously, each school has been allocated a number of tickets, and by the looks of this, Miami has done a better job getting its fans to commit to attending the game than LSU fans.

To further look at this, let’s take a look at the secondary market. Sections 136 and 110 are comparable sections at AT&T Stadium, with the former being right behind LSU’s sideline and the latter being right behind Miami’s.

StubHub

StubHub

As we can see, prices for tickets on Miami’s side are a bit higher. The five lowest priced tickets in the “50 yard line section” on the LSU side range from $370-393, while Miami’s tickets go up to almost $425.

If the 50 yard line is the top of the line ticket, lets look at the upper bowl corner, where one can find the so-called “get-in” price.

SeatGeek

SeatGeek

As we can see, the thriftiest fans on both sides can get a seat for around $100. Certainly not cheap, but more reasonable than the ultra-luxury lower bowl club seats going for 5-6 times the price of the nosebleeds.

However, it cannot be ignored that for LSU’s side, the “cover charge” sits a bit lower, as low as $88. Fans sitting in this location will probably spend more on travel costs getting to/from Dallas than on the game itself.

Mixing with different resellers and seat locations, the trend continues.

VividSeats

VividSeats

This trend does not hold in every section of the stadium. The corners and club seats in the 300 level often see higher prices on the LSU side for comparable seats.

And this pattern also assumes that fans of each team will go out of their way to sit on “their” side of the stadium.

Considering LSU’s proximity to Texas, one would think Tiger fans would travel well to this game. Baton Rouge also draws 100,000-plus on Saturdays and is known as arguably the loudest stadium in college football. Passion isn’t a question one can have regarding this Louisiana fanbase.

But with the Canes coming off their best season in over a decade, Miami’s fanbase has also stepped up. ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit said Hard Rock Stadium during the Notre Dame game one of the loudest he has ever heard. Meanwhile, many LSU fans are questioning the direction of the program under Ed Orgeron.

Just as though LSU’s talent roster should never be counted out, I wouldn’t be the one to go on the record on a lack of passion among the fans of the Bayou Bengals.

But given general fan behavior, there simply appears to be more demand for seats on the Miami side, both in terms of seats already sold and seats to be sold between now and the much-anticipated matchup.