Ticket prices remain hot for Monday night's Indiana-Miami CFP title game

MIAMI (AP) — Ticket prices for Monday night's College Football Playoff national championship game between Indiana and Miami have dropped only slightly from their peaks, with supply obviously low and demand obviously high.

Ticketdata, which tracks resale pricing of tickets across major marketplaces, said the lowest get-in price for the game at Hard Rock Stadium was $3,652 at midday Sunday. That number — based on a two-ticket purchase, including fees — was down about 8% from where it was at midday Saturday.

Many sites still showed some tickets topping $10,000 apiece in the best sections of the lower bowl of the stadium, and some parking passes — no game ticket included — were topping $1,000 online, though a few could be found in remote lots for as little as $100 or so.

Earlier in the week, CFP executive director Rich Clark was asked about how ticket prices at Hard Rock Stadium for the game were topping the secondary-market costs for Taylor Swift shows at the same stadium during her recent world tour.

“It’s more expensive than Taylor Swift? We have arrived," Clark said, smiling — and it should be noted that the CFP has nothing to do with setting the secondary market costs. "That’s awesome. I will just say that speaks to the excitement of the game.”

Miami went through its allotment with ease, as would be expected — Hard Rock is its home stadium. Season ticket partners for the Hurricanes were all sent emails in recent weeks asking them to stake their claims for tickets to each round of the CFP, and those who responded to those pitches had the best luck in getting their hands on the hottest ticket in college football.

Indiana fans have traveled in droves to the Hoosiers' CFP games at the Rose Bowl and Peach Bowl, and it's clear that the Hoosiers have come to Miami as well.

“I know they’ll travel well to this game,” Indiana linebacker Isaiah Jones said. “I think it’s going to be a statement that it’s in Miami, and I think we’ll still see a very decent amount of Indiana Hoosiers fans.”

Hoosiers quarterback Fernando Mendoza, a Miami native, can attest to that.

“Tickets are definitely a problem,” the Heisman Trophy winner said, “because there’s so many family members that want to come to the game.”

Miami will be without defensive back Xavier Lucas for the first half of Monday's College Football Playoff national championship game against Indiana because he was flagged for targeting in the second half of the Fiesta Bowl semifinal earlier this month.

The Hurricanes tried, to no avail, to get the play revisited.

So, on Sunday in the final news conference for both teams before the title matchup, Miami coach Mario Cristobal said he hopes the rule gets amended going forward.

“We feel it was unjustly administered, and now it impacts the last game of the season,” Cristobal said. “We do have the ability, again, as an officiating crew and the powers that be to revisit that to give every team due process and their best ability to compete in this game.”

Lucas was ejected in the fourth quarter of the Fiesta Bowl win over Mississippi. Miami was upset that a targeting call earlier in the game against Ole Miss was overturned after review, saying it felt the plays were extremely similar.

Players flagged for targeting in the first half of a game have to simply sit out the remainder of that contest. Those flagged in the second half are out for the remainder of that game and must sit the first half of the ensuing game as well.

The Miami-Indiana game made it to NBC's “Saturday Night Live” and CBS' “Sunday Morning” this weekend.

SNL took a comedic look at Miami alum Michael Irvin's impassioned antics on the Hurricanes sideline, with Kam Patterson portraying Irvin for a segment on “Weekend Update." The bit showed a photo of Irvin screaming toward Miami coach Mario Cristobal; Patterson, as Irvin, said “here's me whispering."

Fortunately for Cristobal, the bit didn't include Irvin's now-infamous smooch of the Miami coach's cheek after one of the CFP wins.

“I'd rather not get kissed by Michael Irvin. ... That whole kiss thing, I'm never going to live that down,” Cristobal said, adding that he considers Irvin a brother and has been thrilled to have him on the sideline.

On “Sunday Morning,” host Jane Pauley — a proud Indiana alum — discussed the school's rise from perennial football doormat status to becoming a juggernaut, even drawing parallels to the movie “Hoosiers” and that championship tale. She lauded an “unexcitable” coach in Curt Cignetti, along with “disciplined training and a lot of money to back it up” as part of the reasons why Indiana got to the title game.

And, of course, she pointed out Heisman Trophy winner Fernando Mendoza — a Miami native — and his rise to Indiana royalty.

“A Florida boy,” Pauley said. “A Hoosier now.”

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Miami defensive lineman Akheem Mesidor signs during media day ahead of the College Football Playoff national championship game between Miami and Indiana, Sunday, Jan. 17, 2027, in Miami. The game will be played on Monday. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)

Miami defensive lineman Akheem Mesidor speaks during media day ahead of the College Football Playoff national championship game between Miami and Indiana, Sunday, Jan. 17, 2027, in Miami. The game will be played on Monday. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)

Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza speaks during media day ahead of the College Football Playoff national championship game between Miami and Indiana, Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026, in Miami. The game will be played on Monday. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)

Miami head coach Mario Cristobal and Indiana head coach Curt Cignetti shake hands after a news conference ahead of the College Football Playoff national championship game between Miami and Indiana, Sunday, Jan. 18, 2026, in Miami. The game will be played on Monday. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A U.S.-based activist agency said Sunday it has verified at least 3,766 deaths during a wave of protests that swept Iran and led to a bloody crackdown, and fears the number could be significantly higher.

The Human Rights Activists News Agency posted the revised figure, up from the previous toll of 3,308. The death toll exceeds that of any other round of protest or unrest in Iran in decades, and recalls the chaos surrounding the 1979 revolution.

The agency has been accurate throughout the years of demonstrations in Iran, relying on a network of activists inside the country that confirms all reported fatalities. The Associated Press has been unable to independently confirm the toll.

Iranian officials have not given a clear death toll, although on Saturday, the country’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said the protests had left “several thousand” people dead — and blamed the United States for the deaths. It was the first indication from an Iranian leader of the extent of the casualties from the wave of protests that began Dec. 28 over Iran’s ailing economy.

The Human Rights Activists News Agency says 24,348 protesters have been arrested in the crackdown.

Iranian officials have repeatedly accused the United States and Israel of fomenting unrest in the country.

Tension with the United States has been high, with U.S. President Donald Trump repeatedly threatening Tehran with military action if his administration found the Islamic Republic was using deadly force against anti-government protesters.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, in a post Sunday on X, blamed “longstanding enmity and inhumane sanctions” imposed by the U.S. and its allies for any hardships the Iranian people might be facing. “Any aggression against the Supreme Leader of our country is tantamount to all-out war against the Iranian nation,” he wrote.

During the protests, Trump had told demonstrators that “ help is on the way ” and that his administration would “act accordingly” if the killing of demonstrators continued or if Iranian authorities executed detained protesters.

But he later struck a conciliatory tone, saying that Iranian officials had “canceled the hanging of over 800 people” and that “I greatly respect the fact that they canceled.”

A family member of detained Iranian protester Erfan Soltani said Sunday that the 26-year-old is in good physical health and was able to see his family days after his planned execution was postponed.

Somayeh, a 45-year-old close relative of Soltani who is living abroad, told the AP that his family had been told his execution would be set for Wednesday but it was postponed when they reached the prison in Karaj, a city northwest of Tehran.

“I ask everyone to help in securing Erfan’s freedom,” Somayeh, who asked to be identified by first name only for fear of government reprisal, said in a video message.

On Saturday, Khamenei branded Trump a “criminal” for supporting the rallies and blamed the U.S. for the casualties, describing the protesters as “foot soldiers” of the United States.

Trump, in an interview with Politico on Saturday, called for an end to Khamenei’s nearly 40-year reign, calling him as “a sick man who should run his country properly and stop killing people.”

No protests have been reported for days in Iran, where the streets have returned to an uneasy calm. Instead, some Iranians chanted anti-Khamenei slogans from the windows of their homes on Saturday night, the chants reverberating around neighborhoods in Tehran, Shiraz and Isfahan, witnesses said.

Authorities have also blocked access to the internet since Jan. 8. On Saturday, very limited internet services functioned again briefly. Access to some online services such as Google began working again on Sunday, although users said they could access only domestic websites, and email services continued to be blocked.

Associated Press writer Farnoush Amiri in New York contributed.

In this photo released by an official website of the office of the Iranian supreme leader, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks in a meeting, in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026. (Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader via AP)