College basketball: Ticket prices for Michigan State's games with Michigan keep going up

EAST LANSING -- If you want a ticket to the March 9 Michigan State-Michigan men's basketball game at Breslin Center for under $200, you might want to act fast. 

A single upper bowl ticket is already comparable in price to the cheapest tickets for NCAA Final Four events in recent years, said Brian Posey, an Okemos-based ticket broker. 

"It's been a long time since Michigan State has seen a game likes this," Posey said Friday. 

The good news: Posey doesn't expect the cheapest upper bowl tickets to increase much in price between now and tip-off. 

Brokers have found it difficult to buy more tickets because the game has been sold out for several months, Posey said. The Feb. 24 meeting in Ann Arbor is also sold out. 

“It’s so hard to find lowers," Posey said of tickets for the game in East Lansing. "If you want lowers, you’re probably better off getting them now.

"We don't even own 10 seats in the lower bowl." 

Breslin Center holds 15,000 fans. Ann Arbor's Crisler Center accommodates 13,751. 

As of Friday afternoon, the cheapest single tickets for the game were found on Posey's Ticket Machine website (theticketmachine.com) and five other broker sites anywhere from $77 to $182. 

There should be plenty at stake for the Spartans (16-2, 7-0 Big Ten) and Wolverines (17-0, 6-0) when they meet in East Lansing. 

MSU coach Tom Izzo's team is currently ranked No. 6 in the nation and has won 19 straight conference games, dating back to last season. 

Michigan coach John Beilein's team trails only Duke (14-2) in the rankings and could take over the top spot next week because the Blue Devils fell Monday to Syracuse.

The Wolverines play Wisconsin at noon Saturday in Madison. MSU hosts No. 19 Maryland at 6:30 p.m. Monday. 

Ann Arbor expenses 

Tickets for the first Michigan State-Michigan matchup in Ann Arbor aren't cheap either. 

Southfield-based ticket broker Joel Schwartz, owner of Big Time Worldwide, said Friday afternoon the Ann Arbor market indicated most tickets were going in the $200 to $600 range. 

If both teams keep winning, Schwartz said it's hard to tell how high ticket prices for each game could go. 

“There’s a limit to how many people want to pay $200, $250 to be in the upper bowl of a college basketball game," Schwartz said. “At the end of the day, wouldn’t you be better off with a new 50-inch TV?"

Chicago-based ticket broker Vivid Seats sold some single upper bowl tickets early Friday afternoon for the game in Ann Arbor in the $160 range. 

The median price for a ticket at Crisler Arena was $250 at that time, compared to $203 for the March 9 matchup at Breslin, said Andrew Gretchcko, a company spokesperson. 

Schwartz, of Big Time Worldwide, said fans should do their research. His business and Posey's Ticket Machine are both members of the National Association of Ticket Brokers. 

For information about NATB members and refund policies, visit natb.org. 

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Eric Lacy is a reporter for the Lansing State Journal. Contact him at 517-377-1206 or elacy@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @EricLacy.