Duke-UNC tickets cost a fortune, but it’s worth it to see Zion Williamson

Zion Williamson is the biggest thing to hit college basketball in years and fans are paying a hefty price to see the Duke freshman vs. North Carolina.

If you don’t have tickets for Wednesday night’s Duke vs. UNC showdown, be prepared to fork over a small fortune to see the latest chapter in the Tobacco Road rivalry.

Ticket prices to see the greatest rivalry in college basketball is always pricey, but this year’s game at Cameron Indoor Stadium is seeing prices jump even further as the eager spectators try to get an up-close look at freshman phenom Zion Williamson.

As of Wednesday morning, the cheapest ticket on Vivid Seats to get in the door is selling for $2,696. Those tickets are in the far reaches of the corner of the arena with a view that will not come close to what fans could see on their high-definition televisions. It’s slightly higher than last year’s get-in price of $2,468 and dwarfs the get-in price for Duke’s next home game on March 2 vs. Miami, which has an all-in price of $1,220, per TickPick.

But you can’t capture the spirit and the excitement that you get inside Cameron Indoor for a rivalry game against UNC. And the opportunity to see a once-in-a-generation player like Williamson is what has many willing to fork over the small fortune required to get in the door.

“Between Zion Williamson, a No. 1 ranking and this being one of the biggest rivalries in sports, there’s intense demand,” TickPick marketing strategist Kyle Zorn said. “There’s also a limited supply of inventory, which is having a major effect on price. Cameron Indoor Stadium has 13% the seating capacity of Mercedes-Benz Stadium, the site of this year’s Super Bowl. When you factor in that the floor seating is reserved for students, you’re left with a short supply — and massive demand.”

If you can afford to spend this much money on a game, you should do it because this is an opportunity to see a player that comes around once every decade. Take advantage of this chance to see a transcendent talent and you’ll have a story you can tell for years. When Williamson is dominating the NBA over the next decade, you can tell everyone you know that you once saw him his one year at Duke and it was against UNC.

This is a hotter ticket than the College Football Playoff National Championship Game or the NBA All-Star Game. Sure, the arena that holds less than 10,000 is part of the reason and the rivalry always has an inflated secondary ticket market, but the Zion Effect is real and tangible.

“Tonight’s game is a harder ticket to get than last year’s Final Four. Tickets were as low as $67 for the National Championship Game,” Zorn said. “The Alamodome capacity is around 72,000, so the inventory is significantly higher though. For this year’s NCAA Championship Game in Minneapolis, you can sit center court for less than what it costs to be at the game tonight.”

Williamson projects as the No. 1 pick in the 2019 NBA Draft and his highlight reel plays, featuring powerful, high-flying dunks to insane blocked shots, he is the rare college basketball player truly worth the price of admission.

Despite all that, Williamson won’t receive a single penny for his efforts.

Duke will take all the cash from the ticket sales, the ticket brokers and those on the secondary market will see a nice bump in revenue and profits all because of the talent, work and the can’t-miss attraction that is Williamson.

It’s shown in the television ratings where Duke broadcasts on ESPN/ABC are significantly higher than in past years because die-hard fans and casual observers are all tuning in to get a look at the next big thing. Duke’s first game vs. Virginia in late January had 3.7 million viewers to make it the most-watched game in college basketball this year on any network. The March 3 Duke-North Carolina game was the most-watched last year, and Wednesday night’s game figures to top the mark from the Virginia game.

In short, Duke-North Carolina sells, but Williamson on Duke vs. North Carolina sells, unlike anything the sport has seen in a long time.

For a player, ESPN’s Jay Bilas described as “I’ve never seen anyone like him,” many are willing to pay thousands of dollars to make sure they get their look at the best player in a decade.