{"id":240839,"date":"2026-03-28T14:21:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-28T14:21:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/240839\/"},"modified":"2026-03-28T14:21:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-28T14:21:10","slug":"san-joses-march-madness-regional-battles-ticket-prices-no-local-teams","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/240839\/","title":{"rendered":"San Jose’s March Madness regional battles ticket prices, no local teams"},"content":{"rendered":"

SAN JOSE \u2014 Where are the fans at the NCAA West Regional<\/a>?<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a question that\u2019s been on the minds of observers both inside and outside SAP Center since the college basketball world descended on the venerable San Jose arena for the Sweet 16<\/a> on Thursday afternoon.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Attendance, which was limited early for the session\u2019s thrilling first game between Texas and Purdue, picked up toward the end of that game as numerous Arizona fans came filing in for the night matchup between the top-seeded Wildcats and Arkansas<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But for some, the lasting visual was rows of empty seats sitting starkly barren. The announced attendance was 15,431, though that covered tickets sold and not necessarily scanned.<\/p>\n

\"ArkansasArkansas Razorbacks\u2019 Nick Pringle (23) fouls Arizona Wildcats\u2019 Ivan Kharchenkov (8) in the second half at the 2026 NCAA Division I West Regional Semifinal game at the SAP Center in San Jose, Calif., on Thursday, March 26, 2026. (Nhat V. Meyer\/Bay Area News Group)<\/p>\n

SAP Center\u2019s listed capacity for basketball is 18,500.<\/a><\/p>\n

A variety of factors are responsible. Arizona is easily the closest team to San Jose, and Tucson sits almost 1,000 miles away from the Bay Area.<\/p>\n

Texas, Arkansas and Purdue are significantly farther. And while the former and the latter have substantial alumni bases in Northern California, they\u2019re not the same draw a local team would be.<\/p>\n

Some teams in the West region, like Gonzaga and BYU, had the potential to bring in substantial traveling parties but were eliminated prior to the Sweet 16.<\/p>\n

\"ArizonaArizona Wildcats\u2019 Motiejus Krivas (13) takes a shot against Arkansas Razorbacks\u2019 Malique Ewin (12) in the second half at the 2026 NCAA Division I West Regional Semifinal game at the SAP Center in San Jose, Calif., on Thursday, March 26, 2026. (Nhat V. Meyer\/Bay Area News Group)<\/p>\n

\u201cI was happy with 15,000,\u201d San Jose Sports Authority Executive Director John Poch told the Bay Area News Group. \u201cThe NCAA gives zero comps. Every ticket is paid for. Even the participating teams have to buy their tickets. So that\u2019s a real number.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWould I love to sell out? 100%. Should we sell out? Absolutely. But you gotta look at the price of the tickets, and it\u2019s just a factor today, right? Everything\u2019s more expensive.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the official March Madness ticket page<\/a> on Ticketmaster, as of early Saturday morning, tickets for the Elite Eight on Saturday in San Jose start at $130.80 and escalate up to over $2,000.<\/p>\n

At the South regional in Houston on Thursday, attendance at Toyota Center was 17,307 in a building that holds 18,000. This was despite hometown Houston playing Illinois and Nebraska, which has had rabid crowds following its first-ever run to the Sweet 16, facing off against Iowa.<\/p>\n

\"PurduePurdue Boilermakers\u2019 Omer Mayer (17) takes a shot against Texas Longhorns\u2019 Camden Heide (5) in the first half at the 2026 NCAA Division I West Regional Semifinal game at the SAP Center in San Jose, Calif., on Thursday, March 26, 2026. (Nhat V. Meyer\/Bay Area News Group)<\/p>\n

The East regional at Capital One Arena in Washington brought in an announced crowd of 19,445 fans Friday night for a packed slate that included blue bloods Michigan State, UConn and Duke, plus a resurgent St. John\u2019s team under Hall of Fame coach Rick Pitino.<\/p>\n

The Midwest regional at United Center in Chicago claimed 21,508 fans for matchups including regional top seed Michigan against Alabama and Tennessee against Iowa State.<\/p>\n

So what could San Jose do to boost attendance?\u00a0<\/p>\n

The NCAA controls ticket prices, and the tickets are distributed with the help of a local host school, in this case San Jose State.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe Purdue Boilermakers celebrate their 79-77 win over the Texas Longhorns for their 2026 NCAA Division I West Regional Semifinal game at the SAP Center in San Jose, Calif., on Thursday, March 26, 2026. (Nhat V. Meyer\/Bay Area News Group)<\/p>\n

But the Spartans and their partners at the Sports Authority can\u2019t do much except try to get the word out. And they have tried, SJSU athletic director Jeff Konya said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn terms of how successful this one has been, hopefully it\u2019s going to lead to future opportunities to bring events like this of this scale to the city,\u201d Konya told this news organization. \u201cEverybody prospers from that in terms of the economics for the city and the surrounding communities. And certainly memories from a sports standpoint, of some of the biggest events right here in our own backyard. So hopefully this one\u2019s successful, and it just leads to even more success in future events.\u201d<\/p>\n

San Jose getting a regional was considered a coup by some, with SAP Center primarily being a hockey arena and due for a large-scale renovation<\/a> after opening in 1993.<\/p>\n

Poch said San Jose bids to host the NCAA Tournament every year, and getting a regional is the Sports Authority\u2019s top choice.<\/p>\n

\"TexasTexas Longhorns\u2019 Jordan Pope (0) celebrates his three-point basket against the Purdue Boilermakers in the first half at the 2026 NCAA Division I West Regional Semifinal game at the SAP Center in San Jose, Calif., on Thursday, March 26, 2026. (Nhat V. Meyer\/Bay Area News Group)<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s so hard to get this event,\u201d Poch said. \u201cWe\u2019ve had it now eight times. These are four-year rotations, moving to a three-year rotation. There\u2019s 12 West Coast cities trying to get the same event.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not surprised we got a regional. It\u2019s a better fit for us over the first and second round.\u201d<\/p>\n

When Chase Center hosted the West regional last March, there were empty seats visible among the announced below-capacity crowds of 16,417 for the Sweet Sixteen and 16,778 for the Elite Eight.<\/p>\n

So this is not an issue specific to SAP or the Bay Area. It\u2019s a front in an ongoing battle between leagues and fans to maximize revenue while still packing arenas as full as possible.<\/p>\n

And San Jose is determined to ensure it remains in the fray in the years to come.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery West Coast city, you can name them, from Seattle to Arizona, Nevada, they all want NCAA basketball men\u2019s, women\u2019s first and second rounds and regionals,\u201d Poch said. \u201cIt\u2019s a hard event to get. It\u2019s incredible to have in your building.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN JOSE \u2014 Where are the fans at the NCAA West Regional? It\u2019s a question that\u2019s been on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":240840,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[7,88,90,89,127],"class_list":{"0":"post-240839","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-jose","8":"tag-california","9":"tag-san-jose","10":"tag-san-jose-headlines","11":"tag-san-jose-news","12":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240839","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=240839"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240839\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/240840"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=240839"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=240839"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=240839"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}