Ticket prices on the rise for Spokane NCAA games

Want to make some money this weekend? If you have some spare NCAA basketball tickets, look for somebody wearing green.

Chances are he’s an Oregon basketball fan who’s willing to part with a lot of green to see his heroes play this week at the Arena.

And he doesn’t even know who the Ducks will be playing.

Prices for the games in Spokane have risen sharply since the tournament bracket was announced on Sunday.

Originally priced at $270, a single strip of tickets for this week’s first- and second-round NCAA tournament games were selling for about $450 by Monday afternoon. On eBay, the bidding for a pair of strips sold for $1,150 later that night.

The big draw on Friday is th evening session, which includes West Region No. 1 seed Oregon against either Southern or Holy Cross. The winner – widely expected to be the Ducks – will play St. Joseph’s or Cincinnati on Sunday.

Prices for that session were averaging about $250 per ticket; prices are below their original cost for the morning session.

In other words, fans can watch Cal vs. Hawaii and Maryland vs. South Dakota State for just $55, if Monday’s prices hold up.

Tickets also are available on primesports.com, which the NCAA employs as its official ticket-exchange website. There too, prices soared Monday afternoon: at noon, the cheapest ticket for Friday’s evening session was $65. By 4 p.m., the best deal was an upper-level seat for $117.

Meanwhile, in Denver, the average resale price was $163 for the Thursday session that includes Gonzaga’s games against Seton Hall.