College Basketball
March Madness 2025 Ticket Prices: Average Cost For Each Round Of The 2025 NCAA Tournament
Published17 Mar 2025
The brackets for the men’s 2025 March Madness tournament are set after Selection Sunday. Duke, Auburn, Florida, and Houston represent the top four seeds this season, and will each be looking to win their way through the Big Dance on the path to a National Championship.
It is one of the premiere events on the sports calendar, its popularity booming with bettors and those filling out their bracket predictions. But it is relatively affordable to be able to attend the action, which will take place all over the country beginning mid-week.
Tickets to the first few rounds are sold by the pair. Each of the first four rounds (including the First Four) have two-game slates called “sessions”. What are the get-in prices for tickets to watch March Madness 2025 in person? We take a look at the costs for this year’s festivities:
March Madness: Average Ticket Price by Round
There is an upward trend when it comes to the average ticket price for each round, though things change up drastically for the Elite Eight. There is an increase in each of the first three rounds, but the price for the fourth round drops from $205 to $181. Three of the four Sweet 16 sessions are priced at over $200. Overall, the average get-in price for a March Madness session starts at $165.
| Round | Price |
| Round 1 | $86 |
| Round 2 | $172 |
| Sweet 16 | $205 |
| Elite Eight | $181 |
| Final Four | $218 |
| National Championship | $128 |
Lowest Ticket Prices:
The lowest ticket prices are of course for the earlier games. The cheapest get-in price for a single ticket to any first round game comes on Day 1. Session 2 at Rupp Arena in Lexington, Kentucky costs just $41 to attend, in order to see (15)Wafford vs. (2)Tennessee followed by (10)Utah State vs (7)UCLA.
As for the second round of March Madness, the games played at Intrust Bank Arena in Wichita, Kansas are the most cost-effective at $110. It could end up being one of the best values in the entire tournament, and could feature teams like Houston, Gonzaga, Texas Tech, or Missouri.
Highest Ticket Prices:
One of the most expensive March Madness tickets available this year is of course to see the Final Four in San Antonio. The get-in entry fee currently stands at $218, with the National Championship two days later coming in at $128. But because of the Alamodome’s ability to hold roughly 70,000 basketball fans, the final rounds don’t quite come in at the top spot in terms of priciest tickets.
That designation belongs to the two-game slate in Newark, New Jersey for the Sweet 16. It is the pair of games for the East Region, which features a top four seeding of Duke, Alabama, Wisconsin, and Arizona. Tickets to attend are listed with a get-in price of $243, the highest price tag of any event in the tournament.
