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In the last season of the Big East's basketball glory days, the conference has announced that it has sold out all tickets for the conference tournament at Madison Square Garden in advance. Ticket packages were purchased by the league's member institutions, and will not be available at all in a public sale. Those packages will be distributed to season ticket holders, students, families of players and other interest groups by the universities that purchased them.
The tournament will be held at Madison Square Garden in New York City, from March 12-16, and has been held at that venue for 31 years — the longest run for any conference tournament at a venue. This will be the eighth consecutive year that the league has sold out all of it's tickets.
Though the conference will not sell tickets directly to the public, they expect that seats will be made available on secondary ticket markets, having specifically partnered with Vivid Seats, other services like Stub Hub may also be utilized to buy and sell tickets.
Because the seats have been sold to member institutions rather than directly to the fans, in recent years, it is hard to tell how high the interest in the event really is. However, the league claims that the total attendance of the tournament has surpassed 3 million fans since it's inception.
PRESS RELEASE
PROVIDENCE, R.I. - Commissioner Mike Aresco has announced that, for the eighth consecutive year, all tickets to the BIG EAST Men's Basketball Championship presented by American Eagle Outfitters at Madison Square Garden have been sold in advance. All ticket packages for the 2013 Championship have been purchased by the league's member institutions, negating the need for a public sale at Madison Square Garden.
The 2013 Championship - the 31st at Madison Square Garden - will take place March 12-16. It is the longest-running Division I men's basketball championship at one venue. The total attendance of the tournament surpassed the 3 million mark in 2009.
This year's championship figures to once again be one of the BIG EAST's most compelling tournaments. The BIG EAST has 13 teams ranked in the top 100 of the RPI and has seen eight teams ranked in the national top-25 polls during the season.
With no public sale, fans who wish to repurchase tickets from other fans to the 2012 BIG EAST Championship may visit Vivid Seats, the official secondary ticket partner of the BIG EAST Conference. All purchases are accompanied by Vivid Seats' 100% Buyer Guarantee and full support from the marketplace's dedicated customer support center.
Fans may enjoy all of the BIG EAST's exclusive tournament coverage online at Championship Central. Bookmark www.bigeast.org/mbb for the latest information.
-BIG EAST-