Now that the matchup is set for the SEC Championship game -- Georgia vs. Alabama -- perhaps your next question is: How to get tickets for the Dec. 1 game in Mercedes-Benz Stadium?
There are several ways, although many fans in search of tickets will have to turn to the secondary market, where asking prices Friday on several resale sites ranged from about $370 (upper-deck corner seats) into the thousands of dollars (lower-level club seats).
Secondary-market prices are subject to frequent change, of course, and by late Saturday night – after Georgia beat Kentucky 34-17 to win the SEC East and Alabama routed LSU 29-0 to win the West -- the same resale sites showed the lowest price having risen past $400.
This is how tickets for the SEC Championship game are allocated:
> Each of the two participating schools receives 16,300 tickets from the SEC. Each participant sells most tickets from its allotment to its donors, typically based on past contribution levels. For example, when Georgia was in the game last year, the UGA Athletic Association made approximately 11,400 tickets available to donors, with a cumulative “Hartman Fund” priority points score of 32,701 or higher required for access. Georgia announced the cutoff level last year on Nov. 22. The remaining tickets in UGA’s allotment went to faculty/staff, students and “other institutional needs.”
> Beyond the combined total of 32,600 tickets allocated to the participating schools, the SEC distributes the remaining tickets for the game to the conference office, sponsors, suite holders, Falcons club-seat personal-seat-license holders and SEC Championship game renewable ticket holders. The SEC's waiting list for renewable tickets -- tickets that can be renewed for the championship game from season to season -- is closed for this year. As for Falcons PSL holders: According to the SEC's 10-year contract with Mercedes-Benz Stadium, 6,200 SEC Championship game tickets are made available each year for sale to select PSL holders – 1,000 lower-level club seats to "VVIP" PSL holders and 5,200 seats in unspecified locations to other club-seat PSL holders.
As with all major sporting events, many SEC Championship game tickets find their way to the secondary market for resale, with prices driven by supply and demand. Five days before last year's game between Georgia and Auburn, the "get-in price" (lowest available price) on the secondary market was $463, according to TicketIQ.
This season’s SEC Championship game will be a sellout for the 23rd consecutive year. Attendance for last year’s game was 76,534.
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