Tickets for UAAP finals go on sale Wednesday, but only at MOA Arena ticket booth

MANILA, Philippines—It was a gruelling road to the UAAP finals for Ateneo and University of Santo Tomas, and fans also face an arduous task just to score tickets to watch the game live.

First game of the best-of-three finals series, which could be the tighest battle in the finale in the last five years, is set at the Mall of Asia Arena on Saturday—but tickets will go on sale as early as 8 a.m. on Wednesday, although minus the convenience of being able to purchase tickets online or at any other SM Tickets outlet.

SM Tickets announced on its Facebook page that the selling will strictly be available at the Coral Way ticket booth at MOA Arena, and limited to current students and alumni of both schools.

“Due to limited tickets for sale, selling will be limited to ADMU and UST students/alumni only,” said the announcement, which also detailed that only around 1,500 tickets will only be available for sale.

The breakdown are as follows: 50 pieces for Patron, 200 for Lower Box, 500 for Upper Box and 700 for General Admission area.

Ticket prices are pegged at P350 for the Patron area, P300 for Lower Box, P175 for the Upper Box and P100 for General Admission.

Student/alumni IDs, or college diploma should be presented at the booth in order to buy, limited to two tickets per person in line.

The ticketing scheme was met with mixed reactions over social networking sites Twitter and Facebook.

But a lot of people are wary of SM Tickets’ tolerance of sending representatives/proxies to purchase tickets, though an authorization letter and photocopy of the documents are required.

“If SM Tickets would really like to eliminate scalpers, no proxy, no photocopy of documents, let the alumni/students line up and buy for themselves,” said Rachelle Gonzales.

And since only a limited number of tickets are available, a lot of those who lined up might not be accommodated.

“Sana they can release more tickets kasi we’ll all be sacrificing work or school, ang aga mo pipila tapos wala kang aabutan,” said Kathlyn Guinto.

Students, though, can still purchase tickets from their respective schools—to which the bulk of the tickets were allocated.

The last time the Blue Eagles and the Growling Tigers met in the finals was in 2006—and it has always been an instant classic each time the two teams met since then, especially in season 75.

Game two of the finals is set on October 11 at Smart Araneta Coliseum, and back at MOA Arena for game three, if necessary.