The Sports Fan Project

I’m writing this from a hotel in Gainesville, FL.

This is not where I thought I’d be a bit past 8 p.m. ET on Monday, January 20.

The plan was to be in Atlanta, visiting with my cousin and his husband, enjoying some Martin Luther King Jr. Day festivities in the city he called home, and then cap the evening in Mercedes Benz Stadium rooting for a competitive College Football Playoff Championship Game between Notre Dame and Ohio State as Event No. 12 of my Around the World in 80 Sporting Events project.

Alas, the best laid plans.

First, there’s this thing about basic economics – supply and demand – and my budget.

In my perfect world, Boise State-Arizona State in the finale would have suited me just fine. There’d have been smaller alumni fan bases, further distances for local fans to travel, and none of the cache that comes with an Irish-Buckeyes title tilt in the first year of this expanded playoff.

When I crafted my budget for this quest of mine about a year ago, I penciled in $1,500 for a ticket to this event. I figured I’d be able to get in the building for that … no problem.

Guess what?

Big problem!

When I earnestly began monitoring tickets for this event a month ago, I saw tickets listed for under $2,000 apiece exactly one time. It was a week ago Wednesday shortly after the two schools received their allotment. The asking price was a shade over $1,800. I figured they’d ease down a bit more with an increased potential supply of tickets.

Wrong!

They’ve not been under $2,300 since and, just before game time (when folks are typically trying to dump them) they were over $3,900 a pop.

^{Available single tickets within a half hour of the kickoff from StubHub, Ticketmaster, and Seat Geek (all include the requisite fees).}

Second, there was this thing called a Winter Storm Warning. I first got wind (get it) of it before my father and I left Knoxville Sunday morning bound for Atlanta. Mixed precipitation combined with the Polar Vortex’s plunge south from Atlanta into Florida were in play for Tuesday morning (as early as 7 a.m. at that time) and would make travel treacherous.

No big deal, you say, you’ll be returning to Michigan.

Au contraire mon frere.

^{These maps pretty much say it all for what Georgia and Florida have coming over the next 24-36 hours.}

We’d planned this trip to head further south to both coasts of Florida to see more family. Getting there was suddenly forecasted to be challenging at best and dangerous at worst.

So, I did what the person in charge of my project has the ability to do: I called off the CFP Championship Game attendance, scrambled the jets, and headed out on an absolutely gorgeous Monday, visited a cousin of my mom’s in LaGrange, GA, checked out Plains, GA, and made it to Gainesville where the Winter Storm Warning doesn’t go into effect until Wednesday … by which time we’ll be even further south and out of harms way.

And, I’m easily $2,000 to the good and and able to consider a trip to Miami for next year’s CFP Championship or maybe even Nashville for the Football Championship Subdivision title tilt.