BYU, Utah football: 'Cheap seats' going for $1,600 for big game

To put that legally-asked-for scalped price into proper perspective — at the risk of being the first to introduce that element into Rivalry Week — an undergraduate resident at the University of Utah could use that same amount of cash to pay tuition and fees for seven credit hours of classes for two semesters and still have $133.24 left over to pay for books and a burger at the Union.

No wonder Roberts, a soon-to-be-graduating electrical engineering major, has found more discouragement than good deals while looking for tickets online.

"Since it is my last semester, I think that seeing a game live with a friend would be great," he said. "However, because I am also a student, I am not going to pay through the nose to get the tickets."

He might not, but others apparently will — or at least wanna-be ticket-selling entrepreneurs are banking on them to do so.

A search for "byu utah football" in ksl.com's classifieds Tuesday afternoon produced 192 ads — down from 416 on Sunday. Two primo second-row seats being hawked are "so close to the action you can feel it!" — though pads aren't included, sorry — but will cost you $2,000. If that doesn't fit your budget, perhaps the pair of student standing tickets going for $120 will. According to the seller's claim, his steal-of-a-deal offers "the cheapest tickets available!"

Several creative football fans are hoping some scalpers are motivated by something other than greed for greenbacks.

For example, a number of online ads offered up trades instead of cash. Items on the bargaining table have included: Utah Jazz courtside seats; tickets for popular shows such as the Celine Dion concert (hopefully for the rescheduled date) and "Wicked the Musical;" and even massages, including from a therapist from Clearfield who has her own table and is willing to travel.

John Van Wyngaarden, who has massage credits for a Sandy day spa and is willing to trade them and not just for this game, has only received one call off of his BYU-Utah ad.

"It seems like a top-dollar commodity is hard to trade for," he said during that one call. "No one's interested in trading their tickets when they can sell them for $150 and $200."

He'll likely go to a sports bar and "just make it a day there" instead. But Van Wyngaarden has been fascinated to watch the ebb and flow of ticket prices on local Web sites. After BYU lost to TCU, he said tickets for the Ute-Cougar clash dipped in average from the $250-$300 range to below 200 bucks. He then noticed prices plunged again after Utah released some more tickets.

"It's been interesting to watch — kind of like the stock market," he said. "It's quite a phenomenon here, this little rivalry."