Orange Bowl Showdown Between Florida State, Georgia Has Ticket Brokers Taking Massive Hit Due To Lack Of Excitement, Opt-Outs

It's almost as if ticket brokers should've seen this coming with Florida State and Georgia fans, but sales for the upcoming game are not going as planned. Maybe it was the college football playoff snub that gave it away, but it sounds like some brokers weren't taking the hints.

Did these folks see the reaction of Florida State fans after the playoff committee gave them the middle finger?

What was once a proud bowl game system that attracted thousands of fans to each venue has now turned into a a game of chance. For teams that have made multiple appearances in the New Years Six or playoffs over the last number of years, their fans aren't going to waste the money.

If you don't have a team that's new to a game like the Cotton Bowl or Orange Bowl, it's hard to sell tickets. Now this will all change in 2024 with the expanded playoffs, but for the time being it's a hard sell unless you're getting a team with enough excitement behind them.

Two of the best examples of this are Missouri and Ole Miss. After what Eli Drinkwitz did with the Tigers this season, it's obvious why the fanbase is ready to descend upon Dallas for the Cotton Bowl. The same can be said for Ole Miss, especially with the excitement level surrounding Lane Kiffin's work in the transfer portal.

Those fans are willing to spend money to see their favorite team play. Not so much for Florida State, as they still look for ways to stick it to the playoff committee.

Opt-Outs, Transfer Portal, CFP Rankings Hurting Florida State

Whether it's the transfer portal or the players opting out of the game, the excuses will pile up from local Orange Bowl officials as to why the excitement level dropped for their game like the Seminoles in the final CFP rankings. It's easy for some pundits to blame it on the lack of star power in Miami for this matchup, but we all know the real reason.

Once the playoff committee stuck the knife into the back of Florida State, the fans were out as well. Can you blame them? I sure can't, especially if my team went undefeated and won a conference title without their star quarterback.

And right there is why ticket brokers are currently trying to off-load thousands of tickets for Saturday's game at Hard Rock Stadium. After doing a little digging of my own before speaking with a ticket broker, I counted 121 different listings on Ticketmaster where I could purchase up to eight seats. Underperforming would be a understatement, especially with a matchup against the defending national champions.

"We've seen a little bit of action from Georgia in ticket sales, but they're just tired of traveling,"one ticket broker told OutKick. "But from a Florida State standpoint, we definitely bought too much inventory. We thought the fanbase would be excited to at least see a matchup against Georgia, but we were wrong in a big way. I had twenty workers at the SEC title game where I met you at, but I'll probably only send 5-8 guys to Miami.

"You can buy tickets online for eighty bucks, while the regular get-in price was $125 to start. So imagine all the inventory we bought thinking it would be an easy sell for fans traveling throughout the state. Now I'm going to have my guys outside the stadium just trying to break even."

Speaking with a representative from the ticket website 'Gametime', the median price for tickets to the Orange Bowl have taken a serious dip since the matchup was announced.

"Prices on Gametime went from $309 median ticket price in the morning of 12/3 up to $459 the following morning after the announcement was made later in the day," the representative told OutKick.

As of Thursday evening, the get-in price for Saturday's game was down to $59 per ticket, with over 1,874 listings on Stubhub. This is obviously a substantial drop, with tickets starting at $85 on Wednesday.

There Was Nothing The Orange Bowl Could Do With This One

We can't sit here and say that the Orange Bowl did anything wrong when it comes to this matchup, as it looked promising at first. In this new era of players opting out, transfer portal window and coaching changes, it's difficult for some of these bowl games to go off without a hitch.

This time it centered around the lack of excitement from Florida State fans after being shafted by the committee and Georgia fans needing a break. Sure, there will be thousands of Georgia fans in the stadium, but this fan base has traveled enough over the last three years. From SEC title games to playoff games, I'd imagine some of these Bulldog fans need a break for their bank account.

Katie George of ESPN interviews Head coach Mike Norvell of the Florida State Seminoles after the Florida State Seminoles defeat the Louisville Cardinals during the ACC Championship at Bank of America Stadium on December 2, 2023 in Charlotte, North Carolina. (Photo by Isaiah Vazquez/Getty Images)

As for Florida State, it doesn't help that almost twenty players have either transferred or opted-out of the game to prepare for the NFL. If we're being honest, there's nothing else to play for, besides pride. And unfortunately in this new era of college football, pride isn't enough motivation.

But please don't get my words twisted, I'm not blaming Florida State players for this, and neither should you. The season ended when the playoff committee kept them from competing for a national title.

Now, we'll see a game Saturday evening that will most likely have over 40-45 players combined not participating. As for the ticket brokers standing outside the stadium trying to break even, well they've already lost this game.