Where have all the tickets gone?

MANILA, Philippines - The UAAP Finals does not feature the celebrated blue-versus-green rivalry but the interest and demand for precious tickets have been as high.

Supporters of Ateneo and University of Santo Tomas are scampering for tickets for tomorrow’s Game 2 of the UAAP Season 75 men’s basketball finals at the Smart Araneta Coliseum, dying to witness either the making of a record five-peat of the Blue Eagles or the second coming of the Tigers.

A check on the online website of Ticketnet, the ticketing partner of the Big Dome, showed tickets for the 3:30 p.m. duel are already sold out as of yesterday. Students/alumni are also having difficulty getting their hands on upper box and general admission tickets being sold at Ateneo and UST.

With tickets selling as hot as any Ateneo-La Salle game, some “enterprising” entities offered Game 2 tickets at padded prices, ranging from P500 for general admission to P4,500 for lower box.

In the classified ads site Sulit.com.ph, one seller offered tickets for lower box (Ateneo side) for P4,500 each and for upper box A (Ateneo side) for P3,500 each, all of which were actually sold. The same seller has two more upper box B tickets on sale for P2,500 apiece.

Other sellers on the site offer upper box A tickets for P2,000 each, upper B tickets for P1,000 each and general admission tickets for P500 apiece.

Ticket prices are normally pegged at P350 for patron, P300 for Lower Box B, P220 for Upper Box A, P95 for Upper Box B, and P60 for general admission.

The title showdown between the defending champion Eagles and the Tigers has generated a lot of interest due to its competitive nature. The Eagles took the opener of the best-of-three series, 83-78, in a game that sparked a word war between UST’s Pido Jarencio and Ateneo’s Norman Black. The coaches’ off-court tirades against each other further stokes the fire for the two protagonists, with another SRO crowd expected in the second game.

In Game 1, a total of 20,686 fans witnessed the faceoff at the MOA Arena – a count that outnumbers the 18,461-strong crowd in the ADMU-DLSU Final Four meeting.