March Madness Ticket Prices Hit Shocking Level In Stacked Regional

College basketball fans hoping to attend the Sweet 16 in Washington, D.C. had better be ready to spend a lot of money.

The NCAA Tournament East Regional is outrageously stacked. It features top-seeded Duke vs. No. 5 St. John's and No. 2 UConn vs. third-seeded Michigan State on Friday night in the Sweet 16.

It features historic college basketball powerhouses and several major coaches, with Rick Pitino returning to the Sweet 16 leading the way.

It's the perfect storm for March Madness — and the marquee matchups and high-profile names are sending demand for tickets prices through the roof.

The East Regional is stacked with Duke, St. John's, UConn and Michigan State. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)

D.C. Sweet 16 Ticket Prices Are Insane

I was told a couple of days ago by some buddies who went to Duke that they lucked out getting tickets a long time ago for the Blue Devils in March Madness. They said prices would be criminal if they hadn't.

That sparked my curiosity to see just how bad the situation was on the ground in D.C. for the games.

Get ready to open your wallet.

As of publication on Tuesday morning, the median ticket price for the Sweet 16 in D.C. on Friday night is a staggering $930 on StubHub. The most expensive tickets are more than $17,000.

Only the South Regional in Houston — which has Iowa taking on Nebraska and Illinois facing Houston — approaches that total with an $803 median. 

The other two regions lag far behind, with the Midwest Regional in Chicago — where Michigan will take on Alabama and Tennessee faces Iowa St. — median coming in at $680 and the West Regional — Arizona vs. Arkansa and Texas vs. Purdue — going for $472.

Ticket prices to the East Regional have a median get-in price of more than $900 on Friday night. (Photo by Aaron J. Thornton/Getty Images)

Like I said above, the East Regional is the perfect storm to send ticket prices skyrocketing. St. John's is in the Sweet 16 for the first time since Bill Clinton was President in 1999 and their fanbase is a short car ride, train or flight away. Tom Izzo — a March legend – is back, Duke will have fans flooding the city and UConn is a college basketball power by any metric.

For those of you who might not know, there is also a significant Duke alumni base in Washington, D.C., and they certainly don't have a shortage of cash.

It's basic supply and demand economics playing out in real-time for March Madness.

College basketball fans hoping to attend the Sweet 16 games in Washington, D.C. better be ready to spend a lot of money to get in. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)

Of course, it's a little hard for me to feel too bad for anyone going to the games when I remember I had to spend $2,000 to get home from New Orleans. 

How much money is too much money to attend a game? Let me know at David.Hookstead@outkick.com.