YSU playoff tickets went to only loge and Penguin Club members

YOUNGSTOWN

Toyota Stadium in Frisco, Texas, will likely be more purple than red come Jan. 7 when Youngstown State University plays James Madison for the FCS national championship.

YSU announced Tuesday the university sold out its allotment of tickets. YSU officials are now directing fans to www.NCAA.com, where prices range from $65-$1,000 per seat in a secondary marketplace after general public tickets sold out.

YSU was required to put a bid in for tickets right after their second-round win over Jacksonville State on Dec. 3 said YSU Sports Information Director Trevor Parks. YSU set aside $75,000 for the bid, which turned into 1,000 seats, which went quickly.

If YSU would have purchased seats that didn’t sell, the school would have been on the hook for them financially.

“You just had to try to get a feel for what makes sense,” Parks said. “You had to give them a number you knew you could meet.”

Because the seats sold out so quickly, only loge members and the highest tier of Penguin Club members were given the option to purchase seats before the 1,000 seats were sold.

Now many Penguin Club members and YSU students are forced to go to secondary markets like the one though the NCAA website or sites like StubHub! to gain entry to the national championship game.

Read more about the situation in Wednesday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.