The price of tickets to this year’s College Football Playoff games could empty some pockets. 

The most expensive tickets to this year’s Peach Bowl — the playoff semifinal between Georgia and Ohio State at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta on Saturday — are going for north of $50,000, with the average ticket price at $697 and the starting price at around $495.

The Fiesta Bowl, which will see Michigan and TCU face off in the other playoff semifinal, is a much cheaper game to catch. Tickets start at $390 and go up to around $4,000.

Fans wanting to go to the national championship at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, on Jan. 9 will have to shell out significantly more.

• The current average price for a game ticket is $3,000.
• Some reports suggest fans can find tickets as low as $1,180.

Playoff Presence

In the next few years, college football fans will likely have a much better chance to attend playoff games.

The CFP announced Dec. 1 that it would expand to 12 teams for the 2024-25 season. The first round will be played at home sites, the New Year’s Six bowls will rotate quarterfinals and semifinals, and the national championship game will take place a week later than usual.

Manchester United could be turning the corner to welcome a new owner.

A takeover of the Premier League team “could be coming very soon,” according to The Athletic. It was previously reported that the Raine Group intends to complete a sale in the first financial quarter of 2023.

The Glazer family, who purchased the team for around $1.5 billion in 2005, announced plans in November to explore strategic alternatives for the club following continued criticism — fans have protested what they see as misguided management and a lack of investment in the team and stadium.

• Manchester United was last valued at $4.6 billion by Forbes.
• The Glazers are reportedly looking for a price above $7.2 billion.

At the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, Avram Glazer told reporters that “it’s not necessarily a sale. It’s a process, and we’re going forward with the process so we’ll see what happens.”

Manchester’s Money

Earlier this month, Manchester United’s board opted not to distribute a dividend for fiscal 2023, a practice that’s been in place since 2016. The team was the only Premier League club to collect a dividend.

United earned $176.7 million in the third quarter, a 13.6% year-over-year increase, but also took a $32.6 million loss.

Major League Baseball is the latest entity separating itself from embattled cryptocurrency exchange FTX. 

The first major sports league to secure a deal with a crypto exchange will no longer have its umpires wear an FTX patch on their uniforms after securing a pact with FTX.US last year. 

The decision comes after FTX — along with more than 130 affiliated companies — filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

• In January, FTX raised $400 million, valuing the company at $32 billion. 
• Its deal with MLB made FTX the league’s first-ever umpire uniform patch partner. 
• FTX branding was displayed across telecasts, MLB.com, and social media.
• The MLPA also had a deal with FTX, which allowed players to participate in promotions. 

FTX’s bankruptcy caused the Miami Heat and Miami-Dade County to terminate a 19-year, $135 million arena naming rights deal.

The Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula 1 team also suspended its sponsorship pact with the exchange.

Historic Deal Lost

Esports organization Team SoloMid severed ties with FTX in November. TSM — the most valuable esports company in 2022 at $540 million — was in the second year of a 10-year naming rights deal worth $210 million, the most lucrative sponsorship deal in esports history.