With Purdue in the mix, tickets for NCAA tourney in Indy drawing premium prices

Purdue University fans hoping to see their Boilermakers play in the opening round (or rounds) of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament in Indianapolis can expect to pay premium prices for their tickets.

Purdue landed the No. 1 seed in Midwestern Region of the tournament and will play at Gainbridge Fieldhouse on Friday night. The Boilermakers (29-4) will play a 7:25 p.m. contest against either Grambling State or Montana State, who will face each other Wednesday in the First Four play-in round in Dayton, Ohio.

Purdue will play in Session 2 of the tournament, which includes Midwest No. 8 seed Utah State playing No. 9 Texas Christian University at 9:55 p.m. Friday.

Session 1 will see the South Region’s No. 2 team, Marquette, play No. 15 Western Kentucky at 2 p.m. Friday and No. 7. Florida playing the winner of the Colorado-Boise State play-in game at 4:30 p.m.

Friday’s winners from each region will play in Session 3 in Indianapolis on Sunday, with times to be announced.

Tickets are sold for each session or for the entire tourney. All-session tickets weren’t available late Sunday night through the Gainbridge Fieldhouse website, but were selling on the secondary market.

On StubHub, the nation’s top ticket reseller, all-session tickets started at $413 each for seats available in pairs high in the upper deck to $6,347 each in the lower zone at center court.

Tickets sold in pairs on StubHub for Session 2 started at $117 each in the corner of the upper deck to $2,514 apiece in the sixth row of center court. Session 1 tickets ranged from $72 to $484.

For Session 3, tickets ranged from $157 to $1,847.

On Ticketmaster, which sells standard and resale tickets for Gainbridge Fieldhouse, all-session tickets ranged from $561 to $1,237 and Session 2 tickets were priced from $130 to $1,500. Session 3 tickets ranged from $195 to $2,000.

Season tickets for Purdue home games in West Lafayette have sold out for the past three years, driving up demand for tickets on the secondary market from fans hoping to see Player of the Year Zach Edey and a team that has been ranked among the top three nationally all season.