I have gone 3 straight years now as I love in vegas. Here are my experiences:

year 1 (2015): I expect easy tickets the day of the event. I assume that people will be giving away tickets since it is the WCC so I just sho up before the game. I then get hit up by 2 dudes that honestly look like they are off the street druggies. They ask me if I want tickets and they tell me the price and I laugh at their face.

I realize really quick that the place is infested with these "professional scalpers". They up the price big time on the tickets, and people actually buy them. And they are all Gonzaga fans. These scalpers are here for one reason.....to sell at a high price and make money because they can. It was really bad in 2015 that I suspect there were enough complaints that the Orleans staff in 2016 had more security and kicked people out for loitering. Also, you have to be pretty inconspicuous when you sell or scalp....they will tell you to leave and not congregate. So....the scalping was a lot more apparent a few years ago, but it is still rampant.....just a little more camouflaged IMO.

2016: I again forgot about the scam and tickets, but was fortunate a few days before the even to buy 2 off a zag fan at Sams town off craigslist for all sessions. I got a screaming deal on them and went to all the games and sold the finals to sag fans and basically made money.

2017: I called BYU months in advance and told them I wanted tickets to the tourney, even though I wasn't a CC member. Last year, they actually had been given an extra allotment at the end and I bought 4 to all the games. It was fun.

2018: No extra allotments of tickets to BYU. I can't find tickets for all sessions unless I want to fork out minimum $500 per ticket.

in all the last three years, it seems to have just gotten exponentially worse to try and get tickets. You can tell their is a huge scam going on because no joke....about 80% of the fans there are zag fans. If each team gets allotted certain tickets, you know for sure as been stated previously, that sag fans hit up all the tourney tickets from opposing teams months in advance. I guess technically there is nothing wrong with this, but it is very frustrating for BYU fans.

WHat makes it worse is that there are no public tickets to all sessions available to the general public. You can only buy sessions. That is frustrating as well.

Zag fans have got this down because this is a huge pilgrimage EVERY YEAR FOR THEM. This is their tournament as they dominate it and it is vegas. And.....BYU fans are there but don't care because post jimmer has not showed tourney success and no matter what, the Zags fans know the process and BYU fans don't.

I don't know if there is anything that can be done, but it just plain sucks.

You would never think in a million years the piddly WCC conf. would be top dollar for their tournament and the Orleans. I understood why the WCC renewed their contract with the Orleans and not even the zag fans pack the place when their team wins it all. There are still empty seats in the green bleachers behind the basket all the time.

I would say surprisingly that the WCC may be more expensive aftermarket than almost any other NCAA conf. tournament. If you want to go throw up....go to stub hub right now to see how much you have to pay. Cheapest ones are $500....but most are about $900-$1000 for all sessions in crappy seats.

It is just getting more popular and more expensive, and it is a scam, and that is probably why we will never see a lot of BYU fans there in the future because zag fans know the system.

Unless the wcc changes the venue and tickets are allotted compared to student body ore some more even way, it will be just as much or more home court than UNLV at the Thomas and mack.


And speaking of the Thomas and mack, the MWC tourney's were easy to get tickets and cheap.

Again...it is the dang zag fans that have really screwed this all up.