Midwest Regional a hot ticket, getting hotter

Ticket prices for the Friday/Sunday regional in Indianapolis are skyrocketing, and the Battle for the Bluegrass (Part II) - Kentucky vs. Louisville, following Michigan vs. Tennessee - is a big reason why. The average price of a full strip (includes a ticket to both the regional semifinal doubleheader on Friday and the regional final on Sunday) for the games in Indianapolis is $389, and tickets for the regional semifinals alone are going for $294 apiece - nearly double the $151 they were going for prior to Kentucky's upset of Wichita State.

Tickets for the regional final are commanding an average ticket price of $117.

Prices for this year's Midwest Regional are up 34 percent from last year's games in Indianapolis, when full strips went for an average of $290 each on the resale market. The semifinals featured a Louisville-Oregon and Michigan State-Duke doubleheader, with Louisville defeating Duke in the regional final.

Last year in Arlington, Texas, a full strip to U-M's South Regional games went for $213 on average, the lowest of any 2013 regional. The Sweet 16 doubleheader drew an average ticket price of $132, and regional final tickets were resold for $110 apiece.

The UK-Louisville rivalry is the single biggest factor driving demand for tickets to this weekend's games in Indianapolis. Since the Wildcats' upset of Wichita State Sunday, nearly 40 percent of ticket shoppers for the Midwest Regional on SeatGeek.com have come from the Bluegrass State - far outweighing the demand received from within the host state of Indiana (11 percent of traffic). Michigan has accounted for 12 percent of Midwest Regional traffic, more than double the five percent that has come from Tennessee.

The Midwest Regional ticket market has also been the most active of the four regions, with twice as many tickets changing hands this week for the games in Indianapolis as compared to any of the other three locations (New York City, Anaheim and Memphis).

As it stands now, there are about 5,000 tickets for Friday's regional semifinal doubleheader available on the resale market. The cheapest full strip is a $172 ticket in Section 441, and seats for the Friday doubleheader alone start at $83.

The regional final on Sunday is considerably less expensive as an individual ticket, with seats listed at $48 and up. All of the latest information on pricing and availability can be found on SeatGeek's March Madness page: SeatGeek.com.