MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – The Georgia-Michigan game was one of two national semifinals being conducted Friday. Matt Palmgren can tell you all about that.
A pharmacy sales executive from Atlanta, Palmgren and his 22-year-old son, Jared, a UGA graduate, traveled to the Fort Lauderdale area this week to catch the No. 3 Bulldogs’ game against the No. 2 Wolverines. Meanwhile, 1,372 miles away, Palmgren’s wife, Tammy, and daughter Lori, who attends the University of Alabama, were in Arlington, Texas, to watch the No. 1 Crimson Tide play Cincinnati in the Cotton Bowl.
Palmgren was thrilled to be immersed in Friday’s 80-degree weather, but based on what he knows about the other half of his family, he was thinking he and his son got the short end of the stick, financially speaking.
“The difference in the prices of tickets are major,” said Palmgren, who actually went to pharmacy school at Miami and was staying nearby with relatives. “We drove, which took us a long time, and the tickets we bought were about $600 apiece, which got us in the 300 section here. My wife and daughter paid less than that at the Cotton Bowl and are in section 100. I’d say, all told, it’s gonna cost us about $2,000 to come here this week.”
Palmgren said his wife and daughter were finding tickets relatively easy to come by for the Cotton Bowl. They theorized that the bulk of Bama fans were saving their money for the national championship game in Indianapolis on Jan. 10.
Not that Matt Palmgren was complaining. He and his son were enjoying the sights and sounds of a very vibrant scene at the Orange Bowl’s Fan Fest setup just outside the southwest corner of Hard Rock Stadium. They were in line to buy a couple of the souvenir T-shirts at one of the merchandise stands. Those were going for $40 apiece.
And they weren’t the only ones. While there were some doubts in the weeks leading to Friday’s game that the UGA faithful would come out in their usual force, they seemed to be well represented in the surrounding parking lots a few hours before the game.
But Georgia fans also seemed to be matched in number by the blue-and-maize-colored Michigan faithful. TicPick.com reported this week that tickets were being bought from customers in Georgia ZIP codes at a 6% higher rate than Michigan tickets. But that wasn’t evident in the parking lot three hours before kickoff. Wolverine tents and flags and seemed to match the Bulldogs’ red and black one to one.
As for Friday’s games, Matt Palmgren and his son were feeling confident in both the Bulldogs and Tide taking care of business. But even though they could be together as a family in Indianapolis for the national championship game, the Palmgrens will be staying at home for that one.
“Not after this week,” Matt Palmgren said with a laugh. “It was a Christmas present for them to go to Arlington and a Christmas present for Jared to come down here with me. Christmas is over now.”
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