Ticketmaster is charging a $25 fee just to apply for 2027 Final Four tickets: What to know

The NCAA men's basketball Final Four returns to Detroit for the first time in 18 years in 2027. This will be the second year in a row the event will be held in the Midwest, along with being at an NFL stadium.

As fans look to buy tickets to be at Ford Field during the first week of April, there's one slight change for next year. If you want to see the action, there's a non-refundable application fee being tacked on by Ticketmaster, the official ticket partner of the NCAA, for the Final Four.

The one-time $25 fee puts your name on the list for the lottery drawing, but doesn't guarantee seats to the event. With Ford Field's capacity moving to 80,000 for the event, that's $2 million upfront from those in attendance just for applying. Obviously, that's if everyone who showed up were single patrons.

Ticketmaster is guaranteed an extra $500,000 just from applications because there's a maximum of four tickets allowed.

Since the number of applicants isn't released by the NCAA or Ticketmaster, here's a rough number to consider. According to KSAT-TV, 707,961 people attended events at the 2025 Final Four in San Antonio.

Let's assume they all applied for tickets under a similar fee structure. That's a total of $17.6 million. Now let's cut that in half assuming most people aren't going solo. It still works out to be $8.8 million just for processing an application. Even if a family of four wanted to go, which is the maximum allowed to apply, it's $4.4 million. This doesn't include the tickets starting at $400 for upper sections at Ford field.

The 2027 March Madness tournament will begin with selections on Sunday, March 14. The Final Four in Detroit will be held on April 3-5.