IN THE KNOW WITH @STUBHUBJO

At StubHub, it's more than just tickets -- it's about putting your game face (or rocker hair) on and being a fan. My job is a new bag of tricks every day, filled with fans from all walks of life. Stay in the know and get the inside scoop on all things StubHub with me here.

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  1. Texas-Sized Showdowns Highlight Week 5 Rankings

    College football has been nothing short of spectacular this year, but we really haven’t seen the heavyweights take each other on head-to-head. All that changes this week with many teams squaring off in marquee matches.

    As the calendar moves into October, several things are clear: the new Big 12 likes offense. Topping this week’s new slate of games is the showdown between the Texas Longhorns and Big 12 newcomers, the West Virginia Mountaineers. This primetime clash between unbeatens may have garnered hundreds of thousands of page views, but its only the second most impressive number to the combined 111 points both of these teams scored last weekend. Fans in Austin expect to see video game offenses and the demand is reflecting that.

    Two other massive games take place down South in SEC country with Georgia heading up to Columbia to take on South Carolina and LSU travelling into the Swamp to battle Florida. Not only are both games highly searched, but tickets from the visiting team are also high on our chart! The close proximity of these schools and the intensity of the visiting fan bases help explain why Georgia and LSU are both in our Top 10 despite NOT having a home game. Notre Dame and Ohio State round out the top five as they each welcome high profile schools to their friendly confines with the Miami Hurricanes visiting the Golden Domers and Nebraska traveling into Columbus to take on the Buckeyes.

    Check out this week’s list: www.stubhubtop25.com.

    (Source: tumblr.com)

     
     

  2. Just Like We Predicted

    So the Big East Championship tonight comes down to the two teams we expected all along, Syracuse vs. Notre Dame. Wait, what was that?


    Let me start over. So the Big East Championship tonight come down to the two teams we weren’t expecting all along, Cincinnati vs. Louisville. The Bearcats did the impossible and upset Syracuse, while Louisville routed the Irish to earn their spot in the Finals. Take nothing away from these two teams, they’re playing the best basketball in the whole conference. I suppose it’s somewhat fitting that with the ever-changing college conference landscape, the Big East Final comes down to two teams west of the Appalachian Mountains.

    The other big upset on Friday came in the Big 12 Conference, as the Baylor Bears knocked off one of the eventual #1 seeds in next week’s tournament, the Kansas Jayhawks. The Bears were an upstart team at the beginning of the year but fell off a little as the season wore on. It’s great to see this team step up on a bigger stage against a talented team. I’m specifically happy for their much-maligned star, Perry Jones III. An eventual top pick in June’s NBA draft, PG3 has received a good deal of criticism for his inconsistent play. Ever since I read Jason King’s fantastic profile on Perry Jones III and his struggles growing up, he’s now become someone I root for regularly. I think it’s important to remember that all the players in these games are still just kids with the weight of the world on their shoulders.


    Several of the conferences will finish their tournaments today, and the rest will wrap up tomorrow morning/afternoon. After that, we finally get to the good stuff: the brackets. I will be checking back in to give my thoughts on the bracket and see if we can use StubHub ticket statistics to make any sense of March Madness.

     
     

  3. Heartbreak Hotel

    I promise that future blog posts will have more upbeat stories from March Madness but so far the early rounds of the conference tournaments have been filled with nothing but upsets. Nothing hit harder yesterday than Northwestern’s overtime loss to Minnesota. The Wildcats have never made the tournament in the 111-year history of their basketball program and with this early round loss, it’s looking like they will be one of the first four teams out of this year’s bracket. We’ll find out for sure on Sunday but that’s a devastating loss. Poor Wildcats.

    However, in news that would make our CMO Ray Elias extremely happy, Texas significantly improved their chances to dance with a win yesterday against Iowa State. The Longhorns have been on the bubble all season long but it looks like that big win in the Big 12 Tournament will be enough. They play the nationally ranked Missouri Tigers tonight and if they can win that matchup, we can write them in that bracket with ink, instead of pencil.

    Friday is looking to be another great day for these conference tournaments and if the early rounds serve as any indication, we have no idea what we’re in store for. I’ll continue to watch the Big East Tournament since they keep giving me overtime classics, but the Big Ten, ACC, and SEC Tournaments are all worth checking out tonight and over the weekend.

     
     

  4. Not This Year…

     


    Another exciting year of Big East Tournament basketball is underway and it looks like the #9-seeded Connecticut Huskies will not be making a second improbable run to the Big East Tournament Championship. Wednesday, UCONN staved off a worthy opponent, the West Virginia Mountaineers, in overtime 71-67 but fell yesterday morning to the #1-seeded Syracuse Orangemen. It was a close game but the Orange were just too much to handle. And as soon as that game finished up, Cincinnati had just finished off Georgetown in a double-OT thriller. The Big East Tournament is the best.

     Wednesday also signaled a new era for the Big East. Temple held a press conference and announced that they will be joining the Big East in football next year and all sports by the 2013-2014 season. West Virginia, who is joining the Big 12 next year in all sports, has just played in its last Big East tournament.  With all the expansion and re-alignment going on in college athletics, it’s safe to say that this tournament will look drastically different next year. Enjoy it now while it lasts.

     All the other major conference tournaments played some early rounds games Wednesday, with a majority of them hitting the ground running yesterday. The Big 12 Tournament, which hosts a collection of great young, exciting teams, being one of them. I want everyone to keep an eye out for the Baylor Bears. They just beat Kansas State on Wednesday in what was an exhilarating, up-tempo matchup. You’d also be hard-pressed to miss this team, as they were debuting their new, special uniforms. Interesting color choice boys. 

    Remember that tickets for all these tournament games are available on StubHub, and judging by this picture from the Pac-12 Tournament in Los Angeles on Wednesday, there are plenty of good seats still available.