I found this article very interesting, taking into account the glut of
tickets for sale from private parties!  I hope that some of you took the
advice given and called the ticket offices of the participating schools to
get rid of your tickets.
-CArol

Also listed was the distribution:
17,500 total tix
8,750  public sale via lottery
4,375  OSU, Columbus groups
2,400  to participating schools
1,975  to NCAA personnel

Ticket allocation has strong local flavor
Columbus groups, OSU fans outnumber participating schools
Tuesday, April 05, 2005
Dennis Fiely
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

It’s our party, and we’ll go if we want to.

Columbus hockey fans will benefit from a generous allotment of tickets to
the sold-out Frozen Four, which will begin Thursday in Value City Arena.

The NCAA distributed 4,375 tickets to Columbus groups and Ohio State fans,
compared with 600 tickets to each of the four qualifying teams.

The four will compete for college hockey’s national championship.

The University of Minnesota still had a "handful" of tickets yesterday. But
the three other schools — the University of Denver, University of North
Dakota and Colorado College — sold out.

The NCAA rebuffed North Dakota’s request last week for 400 additional
tickets, sports department spokesman Dan Benson said.

"They told us they didn’t have any available."

Colorado College also "could have used more," athletics department
spokesman Dave Reed said. "The phone in the ticket office was ringing off
the hook the Monday after we qualified."

The NCAA sold half the tickets through a public lottery, with 50 percent
reserved for fans who have attended past championships and 50 percent
distributed through a random drawing.

The NCAA allocated its Columbus tickets to the Columbus Blue Jackets, the
Greater Columbus Sports Commission, Value City seat-license holders and
people on record for buying a ticket to a Buckeyes hockey game.

"We’re hoping all those Ohio State fans root for us since we knocked
Michigan out of the tournament," Colorado College’s Reed said.

Fans who travel here without tickets won’t necessarily be left in the cold.


The Internet auction site eBay lists several pages of tickets, and brokers
report an ample supply for a soft demand.

"We’ve had a few calls from fans of the teams coming in, but people are not
beating down our doors," said Matt Colahan of Tickets Galore, a Columbus
broker.

"If Ohio State would have gotten in the tournament, it would be a different
story."

Small Western schools dominate the field. Higherprofile schools closer to
Columbus — such as Michigan or Boston College — would have been better
draws, noted Jamie Kaufman of Dream Seats, a Grandview broker.

Given the moderate demand for tickets, "our prices are not outrageous at
all," he said. "We can get you in the building for all three games at $200"
— $56 more than face value.

The going rate for singlegame tickets, he said, is $75.


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