Alabama, Clemson 2017 Tickets: College Football Playoff National Championship Prices, Deals For Game At Raymond James Stadium

Seeing the University of Alabama face off against Clemson University in the College Football Playoff championship game Monday could be one of those sporting experiences a diehard fan never forgets. It could also be one of those sporting experiences a diehard fan empties his or her wallet for.

The average price Thursday morning for a ticket on the secondary market — meaning it was being re-sold — was $2,930, according to TicketIQ, a website that tracks sales. That would be the highest price for a college football championship matchup since 2011.

There was some slight good news for fans: Prices had begun to drop as game day approached, falling 14 percent from Wednesday to Thursday. Still, most tickets to the game would likely cost nearly $1,000, with TicketIQ reporting the cheapest were $939.

There are plenty of websites with tickets to the game for sale, and it might be best to peruse all of the sites for the best deal. SeatGeek, which aggregates deals from ticket sites, has a page set up for the game with a pop-up that alerts potential buyers to a phone hotline with experts that can help identify the best deals. Ticketmaster has its offerings listed here. Stubhub has its tickets listed here.

It's hard to find a deal that could be considered good — since, after all, you're likely to part with at least $1,000 — but most tickets seemed to fall in line with the TicketIQ figures.

The price of admission is an especially tall task for college students, the folks for whom the game is (theoretically) played. Even special deals come with a big price tag.

Sponsor Taco Bell and the College Football Playoff Committee paid for 1,000 students to go to the game, 500 of whom went to Clemson. Interested Clemson students had to put down a refundable $550 deposit to get the chance to earn a "free" ticket through a lottery-style drawing, the Greenville News reported. Students who actually won the chance to go to the game have to pick up their refund in person at the event. That means if they don't show, they lose that money.