Caitie McMekin-USA TODAY NETWORK
Alabama at Tennessee Showdown the Hottest Ticket in College Football
As of midnight, roughly 14 hours before kickoff, the cheapest price for a seat to the latest edition of the Third Saturday of October rivalry, the Alabama Crimson Tide at Tennessee, was listed on SI Tickets for $504 each.
They were in a group of seven in section JJ, in the upper level beyond one of the end zones.
The cheapest seat not in the upper deck, or behind an end zone, was available for $595 in section W, row 30. However, it was a single seat.
To get together in that section, most available were going for just under $800 each. The price range in the lower level went up to $1,460 per seat.
In comparison, for the other top-10 matchup Saturday, Michigan at Penn State, the cheapest seat on SI Tickets was going for $115, and plenty were available for under $200.
Only one group of seats had a price tag of more than $500, 11 seats, five rows off the field, for $599.
With Tennessee fans believing they have a real chance to snap Alabama's 15-game winning streak in the rivalry, most available seats had more than doubled in price, if not quadrupled, since the offseason. The asking price immediately jumped after Tennessee defeated Florida, 38-33, on Sept. 24.
It's been a long time since a game in Knoxville has attracted this much attention, with some suggesting it might go all the way back to the 1998 national championship season, as both the Crimson Tide and Volunteers are undefeated and ranked in the top 10.
With ESPN's College GameDay and SEC Nation pregame shows both on hand in Knoxville, Alabama is expecting an absolutely crazy atmosphere.
"We got a tremendous challenge against a really good team on the road," Alabama head coach Nick Saban said. "SEC game, GameDay, all the things that make great games so if you're a great competitor you love great challenges. This is certainly going to be a great challenge for us in what we expect to be a difficult environment."
However, that may not work as much to Tennessee's advantage as one might thing. Alabama's already played a game in that kind of atmosphere, when it went to Texas on Week 2, and won.
"I think the first time you do it it's probably a little bit of a challenge for players that have never done it before, especially at certain positions where being able to communicate and hear, whether its snapcount, whatever. Probably inability to communicate on defense if its loud. Those things probably affect inexperienced players a little bit more than the guys that have done it before. But I think by this time, we played a couple road games, you hope that experience has enhanced the guys on the team's expectations of what's going to happen, how it's going to be, what's going to happen, how they need to play, how they need to focus in that kind of environment."
But that didn't stop Saban from telling Crimson Tide fans during his radio show that anyone at Neyland Stadium needs to make sure that they're heard.
See Also:
Georgia Tech Hires J Batt Away from Alabama to be Athletic Director
Nick Saban's Final Injury Update on Bryce Young Before Tennessee Game Day
Legacy and Tradition: Few Understand Third Saturday in October Like Henry To'oTo'o
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