By Tom Van Riper

updated 10:23 p.m. ET Aug. 18, 2009

Everyone knows the recession is hurting sports. Major League Baseball tickets are going for way below face value on StubHub. NBA franchises, more than half of which lost money this past season, according to Commissioner David Stern, scrambled to offer fans food and ticket discount plans and other creative packages to keep them coming through the doors. Even the resilient NFL saw a 1 percent attendance dip in 2008, and the league expects another small drop this year.

But there's one corner of the sporting world that has proved recession resistant: on campus. Few things give well-to-do alumni of a traditional football power more pleasure than a trek over to the alma mater on an autumn Saturday. A VIP parking pass to a prime tailgate spot, partying with the old frat brothers, then settling into a seat on the 50-yard line just before kickoff — life just doesn't get any better, does it? All the more reason to spend on it. The sports and entertainment budget might need to be trimmed back a bit, but it's not gonna be here.

Not only are few athletic departments cutting ticket prices, secondary market sales online are holding up nicely from last year. StubHub sales volume for traditional powers like Texas, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Alabama and Notre Dame are up significantly, according to company spokesman Sean Pate.

"We've seen triple-digit sales growth for some of these schools," Pate says.

Online resale asking prices for some Notre Dame tickets are around $1,000, maxing out at $3,500 for a second row sideline seat against traditional rival Southern Cal. The primary market is going gangbusters, too. The Fighting Irish allocate 30,000 seats per game for alumni through a lottery system, with the rest of the 57,000 tickets held back for students, faculty, visiting teams and the general public. The school has sold out the season again despite raising the average ticket price by $3 a pop.

"We've been very pleased this year," says assistant athletic Director Josh Berlow, who also notes that Notre Dame has refunded some $1.5 million in excess orders. Ohio State also has sold out its season despite a slight price increase, according to an athletic department official.

The top StubHub price for Southern Cal's Nov. 28 home game against crosstown rival UCLA is $1,650 for a middle sideline seat 28 rows from the field. At this time last year, the highest online sale for the game was $903 for a similar seat at the Rose Bowl, where UCLA plays its home games.

At the University of Florida, which just raised the annual salary of head coach Urban Meyer to $4 million in the wake of two recent national titles, top football tickets are selling in the high hundreds or low thousands online. Tickets for the team's annual neutral site clash with the University of Georgia, played in Jacksonville on Oct. 31, are fetching as much as $1,366 on StubHub. Florida sports fans may be staying away from Marlins and Rays games in droves, but few want to miss the "World's Largest Cocktail Party," as the Gators-Bulldogs matchup is dubbed.

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Other top-dollar asking prices on StubHub include the Texas-Oklahoma game in Dallas ($1,389), a fierce annual bash in the heart of football country. With both schools' star quarterbacks returning — the Longhorns' Colt McCoy and the Sooners' Sam Bradford — both teams figure to be in the national title hunt (the highest selling ticket at this time last year was for about a hundred dollars more, though this year's minimum asking price of $223 dwarfs last season's $140).

Local oilmen, bankers and doctors may be skipping a few Texas Rangers games this year. But miss the barbecue tailgate outside the Cotton Bowl Stadium before Texas and Oklahoma kick off? Never.

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