By R.L. Bynum
CHAPEL HILL — The demand for tickets to Carolina’s Chapel Hill Super Regional against West Virginia has far exceeded the supply, forcing many to pay high prices on the secondary ticket market.
There was no public sale of tickets, and some Rams Club members couldn’t get seats for the best-of-three series that starts at 6 p.m. on Friday (ESPN).
A school spokesman said the 1,478 season-ticket holders got the first shot at tickets. After that, UNC received more than 5,700 requests by the Tuesday evening deadline for tickets to see the games at the 4,100-seat Boshamer Stadium. The NCAA requires that 600 tickets be allotted to West Virginia.
Those ticket-request numbers include requests from members of the Rams Club and the Diamond Heels booster group who got tickets but wanted additional tickets.
The ticket demand brought a smile to UNC coach Scott Forbes’ face.
“I think that’s really cool,” he said Thursday. “That’s what we need here at North Carolina, and that’s why you work so hard to be in this position to be able to host.”
Forbes said that he would favor more seating at The Bosh and joked that the school could “just add a $20 million renovation; that would be phenomenal.”
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UNC uses a Rams Club priority points system to determine which members who weren’t season-ticket holders could buy tickets.
Season-holders without enough Rams Club priority points were only allowed to buy the number of Super Regional tickets equal to their number of season tickets. What frustrated some fans who were shut out was that some Rams Club members were allowed to buy six tickets. Some suspect some of those tickets ended up on secondary ticket market sites, such as StubHub and Seat Geek.
As of 5 p.m. Friday, the least expensive Game 1 ticket on StubHub was $180 (plus fees), and the least expensive on Seat Geek was $54 (plus fees) for a ticket with a face value of $25.
The stadium opened in 1972, and seated only 3,000 before renovations that were completed in 2009.
The current capacity of 4,100 was more than adequate to meet regular-season demand this season. Although attendance for the Chapel Hill Regional games ranged from 3,802 for the Long Island game to 4,098 for Sunday’s LSU game, the largest crowd for a regular-season home game was 3,887 for the April 13 Notre Dame game. Monday’s regional-clinching victory drew 4,026.
Regular-season home crowds only exceeded 3,500 three other times: Feb. 23 against East Carolina (3,845), April 26 against Virginia Tech (3,764) and April 27 against Virginia Tech (3,642). The largest crowds at opponent stadiums were 6,017 at East Carolina on Feb. 25 and 5,919 at Virginia on April 6.
Adding more permanent seating is unlikely without consistently higher regular-season attendance.
Just like for the Chapel Hill Regional, a limited number of standing-room-only tickets will be sold at the stadium ticket office starting 90 minutes before game time.
Chapel Hill Super Regional
No. 4-ranked and No. 5-seed North Carolina (50–12–1) vs. Southern Cal (48–18)
Best-of-3 series
Boshamer Stadium
Game 1: USC 9, UNC 5
Game 2: UNC 4, USC 0
Game 3: UNC 4, USC 3; UNC wins series 2-1
UNC opens the College World Series on Friday or Saturday against No. 18 and unseeded Ole Miss (41–21), which swept No. 5 Auburn in the Auburn Super Regional, winning 6–4 on Friday and 5–3 on Saturday. The other two teams in the double-elimination four-team field on the left side of the bracket are Troy (38–30) and No. 16-seed West Virginia (45–15).
| Date(s) | Day/ month | Times/ scores | Opponent (current rank) | Record/ TV * |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| February | ||||
| 13–14 | Fri., Sat. | W, 9–4; W, 12–2 (7); W, 4–3 (11) | vs. Indiana | 3–0 |
| 17 | Tuesday | W, 10–0 (7) | vs. Richmond | 4–0 |
| 18 | Wednesday | W, 5–3 | vs. Longwood | 5–0 |
| 20–22 | Fri.-Sun | W, 10–0 (8); L, 10–3; T, 3–3 | vs. East Carolina | 6–1–1 |
| 24 | Tuesday | W, 9–1 | vs. N.C. A&T | 7–1–1 |
| 25 | Wednesday | W, 13–3 (7) | vs. VCU | 8–1–1 |
| 27–28 | Fri., Sat. | W, 16–3 (7); W, 12–2 (7) | vs. Le Moyne | 10–1–1 |
| March | ||||
| 1 | Sunday | W, 21–1 (7) | vs. Le Moyne | 11–1–1 |
| 3 | Tuesday | W, 5–1 | vs. Elon | 12–1–1 |
| 6–7 | Fri., Sat | L, 13–3 (7); L, 9–2; W, 8–7 (12) | vs. Virginia | 13–3–1, 1–2 ACC |
| 10 | Tuesday | W, 13–3 (7) | vs. Bucknell | 14–3–1 |
| 13–15 | Fri.-Sun. | W, 8–1; W, 6–2; W, 10–2 | at California | 17–3–1, 4–2 |
| 18 | Wednesday | W, 8–2 | vs. UNCG | 18–3–1 |
| 20–22 | Fri.–Sun. | W, 11–1 (8); L, 2–0; W, 7–6 | vs. Louisville | 20–4–1, 6–3 |
| 24 | Tuesday | W, 9–1 | vs. South Carolina in Charlotte | 21–4–1 |
| 28, 29 | Sat., Sun | W, 6–5; W, 13–7; W, 15–10 | at Notre Dame | 24–4–1, 9–3 |
| 31 | Tuesday | W, 5–4 (14) | vs. Campbell | 25–4–1 |
| April | ||||
| 2–4 | Thur.-Sat. | L, 6–1; W, 5–2; W, 8–7 | vs. Boston College | 27–5–1, 11–4 |
| 7 | Tuesday | W, 8–4 | vs. Charlotte | 28–5–1 |
| 10–12 | Fri.–Sun. | L, 9–5; W, 6–4 (14); W, 12–5 | at Clemson | 30–6–1, 13–5 |
| 14 | Tuesday | W, 14–5 | vs. UNCW | 31–6–1 |
| 17–19 | Fri.-Sun. | W, 5–2; W, 14–4 (8); L, 5–2 | vs. No. 2 Georgia Tech | 33–7–1, 15–6 |
| 21 | Tuesday | W, 9–2 | vs. High Point | 34–7–1 |
| 23–25 | Thur.–Sat. | W, 3–1; L, 3–1; W, 22–5 (7) | at Duke | 36–8–1, 17–7 |
| 28 | Tuesday | L, 12–2 | vs. Coastal Carolina | 36–9–1 |
| May | ||||
| 3 | Sunday | W, 13–0 (7) (non-conference game) | vs. Duke | 37–9–1 |
| 8–10 | Fri.-Sun. | W, 4–1; W, 12–2 (8); W, 7–3 | vs. Pittsburgh | 40–9–1, 20–7 |
| 12 | Tuesday | W, 13–7 | at UNCW | 41–9–1 |
| 14–16 | Thur.-Sat. | W, 9–4; W, 17–7 (8); L, 7–2 | at N.C. State | 43–10–1, 22–8 |
| ACC tournament | Charlotte | |||
| 22 | Friday | W, 10–4 | Quarterfinal vs. Virginia Tech | 44–10–1 |
| 23 | Saturday | W, 13–5 | Semifinal vs. Pittsburgh | 45–10–1 |
| 24 | Sunday | L, 13–6 | Championship vs. No. 2 Ga. Tech | 45–11–1 |
| NCAA tournament | ||||
| Chapel Hill Regional | ||||
| 29 | Friday | W, 8–0 | VCU | 46–11–1 |
| 30–31 | Sat.–Sun. | W, 7–5, W, 9–3 | East Carolina | 48–11–1 |
| June | ||||
| Chapel Hill Super Regionals | ||||
| 5–7 | Fri.–Sun. | L, 9–5, W, 4–0, W, 4–3 | Southern Cal | 50–12–1 |
| College World Series | Omaha, Neb. | |||
| 12 | Friday | W, 6–2 | No. 18 Ole Miss | 51–12–1 |
| 14 | Sunday | 7:09 p.m. | No. 9 West Virginia | ESPN |
Photo courtesy of UNC Athletics
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