Belk Kickoff tickets moving down from ‘Super Bowl prices’

Prices for the Belk College Kickoff Game are going down, and South Carolina athletics director Ray Tanner hopes that means attendance will go up.

The last time the Gamecocks played in the game, in 2015 in what would be Steve Spurrier’s final season as coach, there were approximately 20,000 empty seats at Bank of America Stadium as South Carolina beat North Carolina 17-13. The Gamecocks will return to Bank of America to start the 2017 season, playing N.C. State on Sept. 2. The time for the game is expected to be announced later this month.

Fans won’t have to pay quite as much to see this one in person. Two years ago, the tickets ranged from $258 to $70, and Spurrier referred to the most expensive seats as “Super Bowl prices.”

“I think that’s a little too steep or else we could fill the ballpark,” he said at the time.

This year, tickets will range from $240 for the most expensive seat in the Club A level to $65 for the least expensive seat in the Upper E section. There also will be more variance for the prices in between.

Will Webb, executive director of the Charlotte Sports Foundation, doesn’t believe ticket prices were to blame for low attendance the last time South Carolina played in the game, he said.

“The expensive seats sold,” Webb said. “The Panthers priced the suites at around $600 a seat and had a waiting list. We sold out our club seats. We sold out our lower level seats. Upper level seats didn’t sell. We don’t know why.”

Tanner does believe price was a factor in the last game’s disappointing attendance, he said, although he agreed with Webb that playing the game on a Thursday night rather than a Saturday was a factor, too.

“I think we all agreed that we could tier the pricing to give both schools’ fans opportunities to be there,” Tanner said this week.

Webb believes playing the game on Thursday night last time was the biggest factor. That game was broadcast nationally by ESPN and was one of the first major college football games of the season. This year, the Gamecocks will wait until the opening Saturday to start their season.

“(When we look at other kickoff game prices, we are well below the top two, and we are a little above the fourth. We feel good about it,” Webb said. “We took into consideration a lot of the fan input, we talked to the schools. Some of them had trouble selling their club seats.”

This story was originally published May 10, 2017 at 4:11 PM with the headline "Belk Kickoff tickets moving down from ‘Super Bowl prices’."