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the scalper is your friend, especially 60 minutes before kick

My problem with this plan is travel costs.  I simply can't invest the money in travel (airfare, hotels, etc) in the *HOPE* of getting a cheap ticket.  

Right now at least (for Fosters Farms Bowl) this secondary market is not attractive.  It is true, the moment the bowl matchups are announced, it is always a Seller's Market on the first several days, as engaged buyers are first to emerge. (insert PT Barnum quote).   Unless the ticketmaster 'fees' exceed the cut Stub Hub adds, there's no value on StubHub/Vivid listings today as I see it.

Since the Tickets are still available and plentiful at cost, the secondary market has yet to adjust for this, as brokers and sellers are seeking high margins (as they should) at the outset.    In a funny way, this is like an IPO that is sure to pop.  The matchup is fine, but there's simply not enough interest in the game (IMO) to support a ticket premium.   If scores of seats are available today, five days after the matchup was known, there will be lots of seats available at face value a week, two weeks from now.  Less supply?  Yeah, but you will know with certainty what your highest price point will be.

come kickoff, the only Stub Hub listings that will command a premium, are the VIP sections, as those are the tickets which will have less desirable availability from Ticketmaster.   In other words, on site you are going to see fistful of tickets in the air outside the stadium.

For a bowl like this one, I'd show up w/o a ticket, and scalp.  

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the scalper is your friend, especially 60 minutes before kick

My problem with this plan is travel costs.  I simply can't invest the money in travel (airfare, hotels, etc) in the *HOPE* of getting a cheap ticket.  

Yeah, I'm not going to rely on a scalper for the first Purdue football game I've gotten to see in ~17 years lol. Especially when I've got airfare and hotel already baked into the cost of attendance. 

Also not going to walk around prior to the game with my girlfriend trying to find some shady scalper and haggle. 

I mostly always buy premium these days. For the number of games I go to now.. I'm sitting in a great, comfortable seat.

I'm with you there, Badge. This isn't just a game to attend. This is the first Purdue football game (and only the second Purdue sporting event) I've had the opportunity to attend in person since the Rose Bowl. I found a great rate on hotel in downtown SJ and got our tickets cheap using points on Southwest. And, I'll be with my gf. I'm not going to all this effort to be in the nosebleeds... It's worth a splurge. 

The only thing I hate about it is the knowledge that Purdue will most likely NOT sell out their entire ticket allotment for a game all the way across the country. So I just have that twinge of guilt at not supporting the university. 

Yeah, I'm not going to rely on a scalper for the first Purdue football game I've gotten to see in ~17 years lol. Especially when I've got airfare and hotel already baked into the cost of attendance.

Also not going to walk around prior to the game with my girlfriend trying to find some shady scalper and haggle.
I'm with you there, Badge. This isn't just a game to attend. This is the first Purdue football game (and only the second Purdue sporting event) I've had the opportunity to attend in person since the Rose Bowl. I found a great rate on hotel in downtown SJ and got our tickets cheap using points on Southwest. And, I'll be with my gf. I'm not going to all this effort to be in the nosebleeds... It's worth a splurge.

The only thing I hate about it is the knowledge that Purdue will most likely NOT sell out their entire ticket allotment for a game all the way across the country. So I just have that twinge of guilt at not supporting the university.

That is exactly my problem.  If I lived in SJ I'd go to see Purdue just to see a fellow B1G school play.  In that case, I'd show up a little before kick wearing maybe my B1G Conference shirt and I'd get a pretty good deal.  I'd be scared to spend the cash on air/hotel then show up outside the stadium wearing Purdue gear.  I'm just thinking that scalpers aren't stupid.  They know that a guy who got himself there wearing Purdue gear isn't going to miss the game.  Maybe I'm wrong but it isn't a risk I would take if I were you.  

I also agree on being worth a splurge but I would advise you to look carefully at all of the options.  Splurge might be a relative term anyway because this game probably will not sell out and I can't imagine that they get the same rate for even the VIP areas that they would for the types of bowl games I have attended (Rose bowl between #2 and #4, three BCSNCG's, a CFP semi-final, and an Orange Bowl between top-10 teams).  What I have frequently found is that there are price gaps that don't make inherent sense.  

I've found that sometimes the lowest "get in" price (usually upper corner) is pretty close to a decent sideline upper seat.  I'll pay a small increase for that because I consider it to be a big upgrade but then a lot of times the next step is like 2x for a marginally better seat.  I will not pay 2x unless the seat is a LOT better.  Another thing is that personally, I don't mind being up high, but I want to be somewhere near the center if reasonably possible.  I actually hate being in the front row.  I did that once and I'm not 6-6 like most football players so mostly all I could see was the back of their jerseys.  

In summary, I would look around the stubhub site extensively.  There are sometimes relative bargains that you have to look for.  

Thanks medina...

I actually would sacrifice low row in the corner / end zone for something higher but between the 40s... I don't like corner or end zone seats. 

And while I think it'd be cool to be in the "Purdue section", I'd rather take a good seat (on the Purdue side of the stadium) than have a poor seat in the alum section. While it's a west coast game (and so there will probably be more AZ fans than Purdue), it's not like I'm venturing deep into enemy territory. It's probably no more home field advantage for AZ than a Northwestern game ;-) 

Was thinking the same.  It's nice to be in a bowl, but nicer that it's a "real" bowl.  I remember in 2007 how relieved I was not just the MSU ended their bowl drought, but that the Motor City Bowl rumors didn't come true, and they wound up playing Boston College in the Champs Sports Bowl.  Getting back to a bowl at all was good, but I'm glad for Purdue fans it's not against Ohio at Ford Field.

They did play Ohio during the regular season. So that would be a strange match up indeed. 

They did play Ohio during the regular season. So that would be a strange match up indeed.

A few years back [2007] we had a rematch with Central Michigan in the Motor City Bowl in Detroit. We played them in the 3rd game of the season, and faced them again in the bowl.
Luckily Purdue won both. I say "luckily" because despite it being a MAC team, those were the Dan LeFevour years and they were very dangerous...