Similar to a Super Bowl: A $3,500 ticket to see IU in the National Championship

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There’s a perfect storm brewing to make the College Football Playoff National Championship on January 19 in Miami one worth watching. For Hoosier fans, it’s also become one worth attending.

How much will it cost to see the action in person? $3,500. At least.

Ticket trackers say this year’s College Football Playoff National Championship between IU and the University of Miami Hurricanes is on track to be the most expensive title game in history, thanks to a combination of short ticket supplies, a team playing literally in their backyard and large fanbases deprived of success at this level in recent history. If IU fans plan to buy on resale sites, they should be prepared to shell out thousands of dollars.

For the Indiana University Hoosiers, victory Monday would mark the program’s first-ever national championship win to cap off a historic, undefeated season in which their star quarterback won the coveted Heisman Trophy. A win for Miami would cement the Canes as top dogs in college football once again, ending a 24-year title drought in a once-in-a-blue-moon chance to play for the championship in their home stadium in Miami.

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“I would say this is a very similar market to a Super Bowl,” said Kyle Zorn, director of content at TickPick, an online ticket marketplace launched in 2011.

And Indiana fans have proven they are willing to travel, with a sea of crimson taking over Atlanta’s Peach Bowl on Jan. 9, overshadowing any Oregon green in the stadium.

The cheapest tickets to the championship currently cost at least $3,500. Better seats will cost fans at least $1,000 more.

As of 4 p.m. Monday, the lowest price hovered around $3,500, according to TicketData, an online tracking site that pulls data from various resale sites. Tickets in the more desirable lower-level endzone and sideline seats were going for a minimum of $4,200 and $5,100, respectively.

The good news for some fans is that thousands of tickets have not been officially released yet. IU and Miami are in charge of selling their respective ticket allotments to their fan bases at face value. Typically, season ticketholders, alumni, donors and faculty have first dibs when the schools dole out tickets.

Both universities are expected to officially complete ticket transfers in the next day or two.

Will CFP ticket prices go down?

With these large-scale marquee events, ticket fluctuations can be difficult to track as each event is a one-off major sporting event. Even College Football Playoff Championship Games can be hard to compare year to year.

Zorn recommends buying at least 48 hours before kickoff. Closer to the game fans enter the “panic buying” stage that can lead to astronomical price surges right before kickoff.

In 2025, the lowest ticket price surged to $6,431 two hours before the national championship, according to TicketData historical graphs. But sometimes prices go the opposite direction as the game nears. In 2024, the price to watch Michigan and Washington fell to $1,618 two hours before.

Experts expect the resale market to cool slightly when the additional allotments from the schools drop, since there will be more tickets available.

However, available tickets will still likely exceed demand. With capacity for around 65,000 people, Hard Rock Stadium is one of the smaller stadiums that hosts the title.

Past championships can provide a clue for how to buy tickets, TicketData founder Keith Pagello said. For example, past data shows that tickets tend to hover around the same price for the week leading up to the game.

“It’s not going to suddenly jump 50% in an hour,” Pagello said. “So my overall recommendation is to keep an eye on the prices, see where they are going and if it starts to tick up, then you make your decision.”

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Kirk Herbstreit weighs in on CFP ticket prices

In a video clip posted to social media, College GameDay analyst Kirk Herbstreit expressed amazement at how much resale tickets to the championship game were selling for. Pointing to one seller with tickets listed for more than $28,000 each, Herbstreit guessed a lot of dedicated fans could not pass up the earnings on the resale market.

“I think Miami fans wanna go, wanna be there for their team, but I think some of them are going to be like, ‘You’re going to give me how much? How much?'” Herbstreit said to Joey Galloway, a former NFL player and current ESPN analyst.

Alysa Guffey writes business, health and development stories for IndyStar. Have a story tip? Contact her at amguffey@usatodayco.com or on X: @AlysaGuffeyNews.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: IU Miami ticket prices soar to over $3,000 for CFP championship game in Miami

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