DURHAM, N.C. (WGHP) -- Mike Krzyzewski has won more basketball games than any men’s college coach in history. He likely will win a few more at Duke University before April 4, when the NCAA crowns its champion at the Superdome in New Orleans.
Coach K, as he is called, has coached at Duke for 41 seasons, won 15 Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament championships and five NCAA titles. But he also just turned 75, and he is handing over the program to his former player and current assistant, Jon Scheyer.
And that brings us to this: Coach K’s final appearance at Duke’s Cameron Indoor Stadium is becoming one of the most expensive tickets in sports.
That is a game against – yes – North Carolina is at 6 p.m. on March 5. Surprisingly, you can buy tickets. But bring your credit card.
Ticketmaster, which sells Duke’s tickets on the web, offers the cheapest available seat at $3,293. The next cheapest is $3,990. The most expensive? That’s in Section 15, which is near midcourt, Row G: $19,073.
That’s right: you can get a really good seat for just less than $20,000 – and that doesn’t include TicketMaster’s fees.
Vividseats has slightly better prices – from $3,044 to $17,632. Seatgeek is offering $2796 to start. Gametime lists $3,070. StubHub, one of the most popular online sites, doesn’t list any tickets as available.
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Mike Krzyzewski, Head Coach for the Duke University Blue Devils cuts the net on the backboard hoop to celebrate winning the NCAA Southeast Regional Final tournament college basketball game against the Purdue University Boilermakers on 26th March 1994 at the Thompson-Boling Arena, Knoxville, Tennessee, United States. The Duke Blue Devils won the game 69 - 60. (Photo by Damien Strohmeyer/Allsport/Getty Images) -
DURHAM, NC - MARCH 03: (L-R) Head coach Mike Krzyzewski of the Duke Blue Devils talks to head coach Roy Williams of the North Carolina Tar Heels before their game at Cameron Indoor Stadium on March 3, 2018 in Durham, North Carolina. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images) -
Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski, center, huddles with his team, including, from left to right, Wendell Moore Jr. (0), Jordan Goldwire (14), Jalen Johnson (1) and Mark Williams (15) during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game against North Carolina State in Raleigh, N.C., Saturday, Feb. 13, 2021. (Ethan Hyman/The News & Observer via AP) -
DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA - MARCH 07: Head coach Mike Krzyzewski of the Duke Blue Devils reacts during the second half of their game against the North Carolina Tar Heels at Cameron Indoor Stadium on March 07, 2020 in Durham, North Carolina. Duke won 89-76. (Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images) -
OMAHA, NE - MARCH 25: Head coach Mike Krzyzewski speaks with Wendell Carter Jr #34 of the Duke Blue Devils against the Kansas Jayhawks during the first half in the 2018 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament Midwest Regional at CenturyLink Center on March 25, 2018 in Omaha, Nebraska. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images) -
LONDON, ENGLAND - AUGUST 10: Head coach Mike Krzyzewski gives Kobe Bryant #10 a high five late in the fourth quarter against Argentina in the Men's Basketball semifinal match on Day 14 of the London 2012 Olympic Games at the North Greenwich Arenaon August 10, 2012 in London, England. (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images) -
DURHAM, NC - MARCH 03: Head coach Mike Krzyzewski of the Duke Blue Devils reacts during their game against the North Carolina Tar Heels at Cameron Indoor Stadium on March 3, 2018 in Durham, North Carolina. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images) -
NEW YORK, NY - MARCH 09: Trevon Duval #1 of the Duke Blue Devils is hurt against the North Carolina Tar Heels as head coach Mike Krzyzewski of the Duke Blue Devils looks onduring the semifinals of the ACC Men's Basketball Tournament at the Barclays Center on March 9, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images) -
Coach Krzyzewski gets a standing ovation from UNC fans before tipoff. -
Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski
The good news is that no matter the price, there isn’t really a bad seat in the house. Cameron Indoor is known for its intimacy, seating only 9,314, which is about 43% as many fans as can cram into the Dean Smith Center (21,750) at UNC.
But how do ticket prices for Coach K’s finale compare to some other premium sports events?
Last-minute tickets to the Super Bowl on StubHub went for $3,875, but the average was around $3,500. The cost of a closing-ceremony ticket for the Olympics in Tokyo last summer were marketed for $2,030, but COVID-19 rendered that moot.
Minimum prices for tickets to this year’s Kentucky Derby are $1,295 (including food and drinks!). If you want to sit at center court for the men’s final at this year’s Wimbledon, you will have to pay from $4,297 to $5,435.
GQ in a report published last June said the most expensive ticket was for the final game of the 2016 World Series between the Chicago Cubs, their first World Series in more than a century, and the Cleveland Indians. The Cubs won, four games to three. The cost for the average ticket was “only” about $2,900.
But the best seat in Wrigley Field went for … $1.54 million. We would say priceless.
Coach K has a little work to do.
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