SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Last week’s first full slate of rivalry games left a lot to be desired for college football fan around the country. Each game in StubHub’s Top 25 College Football Rivalry Rankings turned out to be one-sided, most notably the Ohio State-Michigan and BYU-Utah matchups. That will undoubtedly change this week as ten of StubHub’s top 25 selling rivalry games take place starting on Thanksgiving Day with a Lone Star Showdown between #2 Texas and Texas A&M in Austin. Backyard Brawls, Border Showdowns, Civil Wars and Bedlam will ensue following that, but according to StubHub sales, the hottest game of this rivalry week will be the “Iron Bowl” between #1 Alabama and bitter rival Auburn.
Saturday’s game in Tuscaloosa is currently sitting as the second highest grossing rivalry game of the year, just behind the “Red River Rivalry” of Oklahoma and Texas earlier this year, and poised to surpass it by week’s end. It’s commanding an average selling price of $402 per ticket via sales through StubHub, only the second game of all the rivalries to do so, while gross sales have increased over 100% from 2007.
The national spotlight will also be focused other games ranked in StubHub’s poll. Logging in at number 17, Oregon State hosts Oregon on Saturday in the annual Civil War but with much greater stakes than usual, as the Beavers will play for their first Rose Bowl appearance in over 40 years as well as a first-ever outright Pac-10 title. The game is the highest grossing Oregon State football game ever sold on StubHub, with tickets selling at an average of $171 per ticket.
There will be the traditional “Bedlam” when Oklahoma State and Oklahoma meet on Saturday for much more than state bragging rights. The Sooners are coming off a throttling of previously second ranked Texas Tech and will look to keep their national title game and Big 12 Championship hopes alive in Stillwater. The game stands at number 19 in the StubHub poll based on gross sales but is commanding the highest selling price ever for this rivalry at $339 per ticket, over $150 more than 2007 for the game in Norman.
Discounts also highlight the Top 25 rivalries for this week with Notre Dame-USC tickets selling for $200 less than 2007. Kansas-Missouri, Florida-Florida State and Virginia-Virginia Tech have also seen nearly $100 discounts from their 2007 selling prices despite considerable interest for each game.
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STUBHUB TOP 25 RIVALRY RANKINGS (11/25/08) |
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Rivalry Game |
Date |
Current
Avg. |
2007
Avg. |
Prev. Week
Ranking |
||||||
| 1 | Oklahoma vs. Texas | 11-Oct | $ 345 | $ 400 | 1 | |||||
| 2 | 29-Nov | $ 402 | $ 337 | 3 | ||||||
| 3 | Florida vs. Georgia | 1-Nov | $ 349 | $ 263 | 2 | |||||
| 4 | Michigan at Ohio State | 22-Nov | $ 404 | $ 374 | 4 | |||||
| 5 | Notre Dame at USC | 29-Nov | $ 207 | $ 407 | 5 | |||||
| 6 | Texas A&M at Texas | 27-Nov | $ 191 | $ 244 | 6 | |||||
| 7 | Michigan State at Michigan | 25-Oct | $ 175 | $ 200 | 7 | |||||
| 8 | Kansas vs. Missouri | 29-Nov | $ 108 | $ 227 | 10 | |||||
| 9 | USC at UCLA | 6-Dec | $ 175 | $ 246 | 11 | |||||
| 10 | Alabama at Tennessee | 25-Oct | $ 186 | $ 238 | 8 | |||||
| 11 | Florida at Tennessee | 20-Sep | $ 207 | $ 248 | 9 | |||||
| 12 | Florida at Florida State | 29-Nov | $ 146 | $ 305 | 15 | |||||
| 13 | Purdue at Notre Dame | 27-Sep | $ 178 | $ 105 | 12 | |||||
| 14 | Army/Navy Game | 6-Dec | $ 191 | $ 231 | 14 | |||||
| 15 | Georgia at Auburn | 15-Nov | $ 180 | $ 263 | 13 | |||||
| 16 | Georgia Tech at Georgia | 29-Nov | $ 179 | $ 163 | 17 | |||||
| 17 | Oregon at Oregon State | 29-Nov | $ 171 | $ 176 | 18 | |||||
| 18 | Florida State at Miami | 4-Oct | $ 122 | $ 114 | 16 | |||||
| 19 | Oklahoma at Oklahoma State | 29-Nov | $ 339 | $ 169 | 19 | |||||
| 20 | Stanford at California | 22-Nov | $ 88 | $ 99 | 22 | |||||
| 21 | West Virginia at Pittsburgh | 28-Nov | $ 95 | $ 138 | 23 | |||||
| 22 | BYU at Utah | 22-Nov | $ 198 | $105 | 21 | |||||
| 23 | Iowa State at Iowa | 13-Sep | $ 170 | $ 122 | 20 | |||||
| 24 | Virginia at Virginia Tech | 29-Nov | $ 134 | $ 230 | 24 | |||||
| 25 | N. Carolina State at N. Carolina | 22-Nov | $ 94 | $ 149 | 25 | |||||
Best of the Rest: South Carolina at Clemson, LSU at Arkansas, Indiana at Purdue
The StubHub Top 25 Rivalry Rankings display the traditional college rivalry game tickets that are in highest demand by gross dollar volume of tickets sold through the StubHub ticket marketplace. A new Top 25 list is released weekly during rivalry season until the conclusion of the regular season as sales fluctuate due to pre-game hype and team performance. An important component of the rankings, average ticket price, can also reflect the difference in year over year demand for each game.
Rankings can change weekly based on the buying activity on StubHub.com due to the importance of each game and the overall performance of one or both teams. Once a game has been played it still may rank on the list based on the total sales activity for that game. For example, Oklahoma vs. Texas has outsold all other games this season and therefore still ranks number one many weeks after it has been played.
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