Okay let me tell you this whole Oklahoma high school basketball ticket thing was a total mess, just like I figured it might be. Wanted to grab some for the big 2025 state tournament final weekend, thought it would be easy.
The Plan Seemed Simple
First, I jumped on the official association website. Knew tickets would go on sale soon. Set a reminder on my phone, cleared my schedule for that sale time. Felt pretty prepared.
Then sale day hit.
Pure Chaos Online
Logged in 5 minutes early, feeling smug. Hit refresh right when the clock turned.
- Website froze. Like, completely dead.
- Tried reloading. Got an error message about high traffic.
- Hit refresh again. And again. And probably at least 500 times over the next 10 minutes. Nothing.
Totally locked out online. Knew right then online was a bust. Sold out probably in 15 seconds. LOL seriously?
Panic Sets In – Physical Box Office?
Scrambled to find out if they sold tickets at the actual arena box office during non-game days. Drove straight down there, wasting gas and time. Parking sucked, naturally.
- Got inside, asked the bored-looking guy behind the window.
- He just stared blankly: “Tournament tickets? Only through the website or resale partners. We don’t sell finals tickets here. Ever.”
Great. Thanks for nothing. Website down, box office useless. Now what?
Resale Hassle (And Scammers Everywhere)
Started looking at big ticket resale places you find online. Prices were… insane.
- Found seats, okay section. Original price maybe $35 per day? Resale wanted $200. For one session!
- Checked another site, different partner. Same seats, $185. Slightly less insane but still ridiculous.
- Kept checking back, saw prices bouncing up and down constantly. Pure price gouging.
The real fun: Dodging obvious scams on social media sites. “Selling tickets DM me!” – yeah right. Blocked like five profiles instantly. Felt like navigating a minefield.
Finally Bit the Bullet
After like three days of this nonsense, just said screw it.
- Picked a resale platform that seemed less sketchy than others. Or maybe just less overtly criminal.
- Chose two tickets for the Saturday semi-finals session. Definitely not the finals.
- Total cost with their stupid “fees”? Original face value for two would have been maybe $70. Paid $390. Almost cried hitting confirm.
Got the email confirmation. Tickets showed up in the app. Relief mixed with pure bitterness about the markup.
What Did I Learn?
- Official Website: Worthless unless you get incredibly lucky or have insider access. It crashes instantly.
- Box Office: Useless for these tickets. Save the trip.
- Resale Sites: Your actual option, but expect highway robbery pricing and fees piled on top of fees.
- Social Media: 90% scams. Don’t even bother unless you know the person.
- Act Fast (or Pay More): The longer you wait after the initial sale disaster, the more prices creep up on resale.
So yeah, got tickets finally. Paid through the nose. Process was frustrating, expensive, and felt totally unfair to regular fans. Just glad it’s over. Won’t do this again unless I have way more spare cash lying around next year. Lesson painfully learned.