What kinds of prices can you expect on the secondary market for Big Game

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Our partners over at SeatGeek.com helped us break down the kinds of ticket prices you can expect this week, leading into the 115th edition of The Big Game between California and Stanford.

The last time we looked into this, during the preseason, we saw fairly high average prices for Bears games, likely due to preseason enthusiasm for the move back into the renovated Memorial Stadium.

The opening of Cal's renovated Memorial Stadium had led to a notable increase in ticket prices for Bears games on the secondary market before the season began. The average ticket on the secondary market in 2012 was $100, a 12% increase on last year's $88 average. Considering that Cal's 7-6 record in 2011 was not likely to have greatly increased demand for tickets, and the fact that the Golden Bears were shifting from the 45,000 seat AT&T Park (their 2011 venue) back to a 62,000 seat venue on campus, it's highly probable that the stadium renovation was a factor in this year's ticket price jump.

But now, six weeks into the season, we've seen prices on average drop to a mark of $55.40, down from last year's average ticket price of $88 when home games were played at AT&T Park.

This drop could very well be a factor of pure supply and demand, more than anything related to the quality of Cal's play on the field. Cal averaged attendance of 37,000 in the 45,000 seat venue last season, but the move back to Berkeley means the Bears are playing in a venue with 20,000 additional seats this year. Cal has only sold out the season opener against Nevada in 2012, so the larger available supply of tickets on the market in 2012 may be a major driver in the lower year-over-year prices.

Specific to the Big Game, here are some notes on availability and price trends of late:

-- The average price for a ticket to the Big Game this Saturday is $103.40. That is the least expensive ticket to see these two teams play in any of the past three seasons. The average price for the 2011 Big Game at Stanford was $130, while tickets to the 2010 game at Memorial Stadium cost fans $104 on average, or just slightly more than what has been paid on average in 2012 for Big Game tickets.

-- However, the Big Game is still the toughest ticket on the Cal home football schedule by a fair margin. The average price of the next most expensive game - the Nov 11th game against Oregon -- is $13 less expensive at an average price of $90.83. Apart from these top two games, no other Cal home game in 2012 has seen an average ticket price on secondary markets higher than $56.

For fans who don't yet have Big Game tickets, good deals can still be had at prices well below $100. Right now, the least expensive available ticket to this weekend's game is $75 for a seat in Section WW, Row 43. All of the latest info on ticket prices and availability for the 2012 Big Game can be found on SeatGeek's event page for the game HERE.