Fort Myers Tip Off Tickets

[Dubl R 1]

Anybody have any info on if Bradley will be selling Tickets to the Fort Myers games WITHOUT purchasing a travel package? We have a house in the area so obviously we wouldn't need to purchase a travel package. I notified the tournament folks of this, and they have already emailed me about buying tickets, but I was wondering if I should try thru Bradley first?

[Da Coach]

Anybody have any info on if Bradley will be selling Tickets to the Fort Myers games WITHOUT purchasing a travel package? We have a house in the area so obviously we wouldn't need to purchase a travel package. I notified the tournament folks of this, and they have already emailed me about buying tickets, but I was wondering if I should try thru Bradley first?

I am going on my own, and have rented an Air B&B place on the beach, so I don't need a Ticket & Travel Package.
I have checked into this and here is the answer.
As of now, I am not sure that Bradley has any more information than what the Fort Myers Tip-Off website says and they are referring people to this website-

https://www.fortmyerstipoff.com/Tickets

It says:
"Tickets for the 2019 Rocket Mortgage Fort Myers Tip-Off will only be available via Travel Packages until September"

I do not know if Bradley will sell the individual tickets. But I have found out that individual tickets will go on sale Wednesday, September 18.
Their website is supposed to change and show a link that allows fans to select individual seats from a seating chart and buy just the tickets.

https://fswarena.evenue.net/cgi-bin/ncommerce3/SEGetEventList?groupCode=SPOR&linkID=pfm-sca&shopperContext=&caller=&appCode=

But if the website does not update on that date like it should, the ticket office at the Suncoast Credit Union Arena says they will also begin selling the individual tickets on that date. Their phone number is 239-481-4849.

I don't know what the prices will be, but here is an old page from last year showing the range of ticket prices for the 2018 Fort Myers Tip-Off-
https://www.fswarena.com/event/inaug...ll-tournament/

If anyone bought the full Travel Package that includes tickets as well as hotels, please let us know what section the Bradley tickets are in!
It would be nice if even the fans who are buying only the tickets separately can know what section to ask for.

I have also heard from someone who went to the 2018 Fort Myers Tip-Off (a Loyola fan) and they said tickets were also available at the arena on the night of the games, as would be expected.

Here is a seating chart of the Suncoast Credit Union Arena-

https://www.fswarena.com/capacity-seating/

116, 117, and 118 are the sections on the side with the team benches, and 106, 107, and 108 are on the side opposite the team benches.

[Dubl R 1]

Thanks DC. Like I said I had originally contacted the tournament contact info earlier and told them I was going to be there already and wanted to purchase tickets only. They actually emailed me and left a voicemail a couple of days ago saying they would like to work with me about getting tickets....so maybe I will call them back, see what they can offer and Ill let you know what they say.

[Da Coach]

The Fort Myers Tip-Off tickets are not on sale yet unless you buy the complete vacation package (including hotel).
However, for those planning on going, they now have posted the game times, the team sections in the arena and the ticket prices.
Bradley fans are assigned primarily to Section 106 (see below).
The team benches are in front of Sections 116 and Section 118, however, they have not officially announced yet which bench will be assigned to Bradley. I am guessing it will be the bench in Section 118, since the Northwestern fans are located behind the bench in Section 116, and the Bradley fan section is across from that Section 118 bench.
Note that the game times have been set for both days-
Monday's (Nov. 25) Semifinal games are set for 6:00 pm ET (K-State vs. Pitt) and 8:30 pm ET (Bradley vs. Northwestern).
Wednesday's (Nov. 27) Final games will also be at 6:00 pm ET & 8:30 pm ET, and matchups will be determined by results of the Monday (Nov. 25) games.

Oddly, none of this ticket or seating info is posted on the Fort Myers Tip-Off website-

https://www.fortmyerstipoff.com/landing/index

[PhiAlphaBoy]

I received the following email (and voice mail) last Friday:


Good morning XXXX,

My name is Connor Hejmej, I just left you a brief voicemail. I am with the Fort Myers Tip-Off, an early season college basketball tournament taking place at Suncoast Union Arena on November 25^th and 27^th. I was hoping to follow up on your early registration and interest in securing tickets to the event. We are expecting a great turnout this year as the field consists of three power five conference teams, including two NCAA Tournament Selections from 2018.

I would be more than happy to be your point person in getting you tickets to the event. Please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions or if you’d like to place an order for your group—my cell phone is at the bottom of this email.

We look forward to seeing you in November!


Connor Hejmej
Ticket Sales & Operations Coordinator
Office: 312-645-5426
Mobile: 217-414-1571

FortMyersTipOff.com
Nov 25-27, 2019

[Da Coach]

Tickets just went on sale at 9:00 am Central time. So I tried to buy through their website, but there was initially an option to allow buying tickets by specific seat location, but there was a glitch that didn't load their seating chart to allow buyers to buy specific seats. So now I see they eliminated that option, and you can only purchase tickets by price level-
https://fswarena.evenue.net/cgi-bin/...ller=&appCode=

But, I was successful buying tickets in the specific location I preferred by calling their ticket office directly at 239-481-4849 or 800-440-7469. The girl I spoke to could not have been nicer, and the buying process went quickly and easily.
So the tickets are now available to buy for just the games. Good luck!

Here is the seating chart and ticket prices again-

[nomonoles4u]

Got my tickets for TipOff Fi. and I asked the guy in the window how sales were going. He said very well and they had noted schools this year last year had a good turn outs and the biggest named school was a Catholic school from Chicago. Curious, does anyone know if the alumni assoc. will have a hospitality room?
nomonoles

[Da Coach]

I hope they do. There are a lot of Bradley alumni in Florida, including a number of retired former season ticket holders.
We'll try to find out if and where any Alumni or Fan event will occur.
If there is such an alumni event planned, it probably will show up on this Bradley Alumni Association page-

https://www.bradley.edu/alumni/events/

The last time Bradley played in the Fort Myers area was the 2016 Gulf Coast Showcase in the Germain Arena in Estero, Florida (now called the Hertz Arena). That was Coach Wardle's second season, and was obviously still a rebuilding year.
Bradley lost to Hofstra 92-90 in the opening game (11/21/16) in a game they lead much of the way and probably should have won. Hofstra scored with 0.5 seconds left to beat the Braves-
https://bradleybraves.com/news/2016/...o-hofstra.aspx
But then the Braves came back the next night (11/22/16) to beat Wofford 70-62. The following night (11/23/16) they lost to George Mason 77-66.
There was a good crowd there for Bradley which included fans who made the trip from Central Illinois as well as a bunch of people who lived in Florida.

Likewise, I recall a good contingent of Florida fans the last time Bradley actually played in the city of Fort Myers. It was the 2008 O'Reilly Autoparts CBE Classic played in the Alico Arena on the beautiful campus of Florida Gulf Coast University. Bradley lost to UMKC (11/24/08 ) in the opening game 73-61, then beat host FGCU 58-54 (11/25/08 ), then beat a pretty good Richmond team 80-66 (11/26/08 ) in the final game.

https://bradleybraves.com/schedule.aspx?schedule=443

That 2008-09 season, the Braves finished 21-15, and was the 4th 20-win season in a row for Jim Les. Bradley did not win 20 games in a season again until 2017-18, and again last year 2018-19.

It should be a good time again for Bradley fans in Fort Myers!