A school grieves
Penn State University students Karisa Maxwell of Ottisville, New York, is consoled by Matt Shanes of Springfield, New Jersey, at the Joe Paterno statue at Penn State University in State College, Pennsylvania January 22, 2012. Reuters

Joe Paterno memorial service tickets sold out within minutes and are now selling for as much as $90,000 on eBay, despite initially being free to the public.

A Twitter account for The Lion Ambassador Alumni Interest Group tweeted out that the 16,000 available tickets for Thursday's memorial service sold out in just over 40 seconds. The public memorial service will be held on Thursday at 2 p.m. at Jordan Center, the school's basketball arena.

The two tickets were initially priced at 99 cents on eBay before bidders -- there were 72 bids at 11:36 a.m. -- skyrocketed the price of the tickets to more than $90,000.

The public memorial service is one of the best ways for fans to get one last chance to say goodbye to the legendary Penn State football coach, who passed away on Sunday at the age of 85. There is a public viewing session at the Pasquerilla Spiritual Center on Tuesday from 1 to 11 p.m. before Paterno's private funeral on Wednesday at 2 p.m.

Controversial Westboro Baptist Church -- known for its inflammatory anti-gay rhetoric -- has said it plans to picket Paterno's funeral.

The amount of interest in Paterno's memorial service is certainly understandably, but as CNBC's Darren Rovell initially noted on Twitter, there is something unnerving about someone profiting from a memorial service.

Paterno died on Sunday due to complications from lung cancer. He was fired after 46 years as Penn State's head coach on Nov. 9th for his involvement in the Jerry Sandusky scandal. Penn State's Board of Trustees fired Paterno for not doing enough with allegations that Sandusky was molesting young boys on the school campus, but many fans still supported the old school coach.

After word of his firing became public, students took to the streets to riot in anger over the school's decision to fire Paterno. That type of reaction shows the undying love the fans had for Paterno and why they are so passionate about saying goodbye.

UPDATE: eBay just took down the listing for the tickets after increased media scrutiny.

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