UK games requiring pretty penny from Cats fans

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – I’m not sure if Nashville, Tenn., is ever referred to as “Cashville, Tenn.,” but if you’re here this weekend you might as well. In addition to the night life being quite expensive, ticket prices for the Southeastern Conference Tournament are skyrocketing through the roof.

Big Blue Nation has taken over Cashville – errr – Nashville this weekend, and though the ticket prices may be high, the UK turnout has been over the top.

In each of the Cats’ first two games UK fans have had an overwhelmingly larger number of fans in attendance and the players have all said they feel like they’re still in the comfortable home confines of Rupp Arena.

“They tell me 180,000 fans came to Nashville … And only 17,000 could get in the building,” UK head coach John Calipari said. “There were people selling tickets – they would sell their ticket to anybody except a Kentucky fan. That’s what they had a sign. ‘Are you a Kentucky fan? I’m not selling you the tickets because we’re not having a building full of Kentucky people.”

Debbie Stephens, a worker at UK in the sports medicine department who is attending what she believes to be her 15th straight year at the SEC Tournament, said it used to be that if you didn’t have a ticket you could walk up to people on the street and purchase tickets no problem, sometimes even below face value.

Times have changed though. Stephens said she heard a story this year of a Louisiana State fan who had an extra ticket but when asked by a UK fan how much they wanted for it, they held the ticket up and tore it in half.

“They said they would rather eat it than sell it to a UK fan,” Stephens said. “They did not want them in there.”

Stephens purchased her ticket to the Alabama game from a Louisville fan ironically enough, but at about 7:15 p.m. on Friday was still looking for tickets to UK’s semifinal game against Tennessee.

As of 8:00 p.m., Saturday StubHub.com was showing 177 tickets still being available for Sunday afternoon’s SEC Tournament championship game. Price ranges went from $199.99 to $649.99.

For fans already in Nashville, Tenn., scalping tickets has been an adventure. One fan said he spent “probably too much,” for the tickets but wouldn’t give a price value with his kids around. Another said she bought a ticket for UK’s game against Tennessee for $400, but wouldn’t even look for tickets for Sunday’s game.

Another fan said he was commonly hearing ticket prices for UK’s game against Tennessee going between $450-$500. He said he found some people selling tickets to upper level seats for $300.

Calipari, who said he wasn’t worried about the SEC Tournament, said he owes it to the fans for his team to perform its best because of how much the fans are paying to see the Cats play.

“When I see a building full of blue fans who paid a lot of money for the tickets – $500, $1,000, probably people who could not afford to pay $500, $1,000, they’re taking their vacation in Nashville, Tennessee, to watch our team play,” he said.

“The blue dust is everywhere,” Calipari said. “It’s incredible.”