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UGA fans scramble for tickets to National Championship game

ATHENS — Phones rang off the hook Wednesday at the University of Georgia sports office as the school’s most generous donors called about tickets to the National Championship football game.

The Georgia Bulldogs will face the Alabama Crimson Tide Monday night at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.

"There's no doubt about it. It's a very quick turnaround, but the bottom line is, we anticipated this and were ready for this to happen," said Matt Borman, with the Georgia Bulldogs Club.

UGA was allotted approximately 15,000 tickets for the game. Those who donated at least $12,000 to the university qualified to purchase tickets at face value, which started under $500.

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"Three business days before we play in Atlanta. There's a lot of work to be done, but the system is in place to pull it off," Borman said.

Coaches, players and university staff members and officials also get tickets. Students will be allotted tickets through a lottery system.

Other fans will likely have to buy tickets through ticket brokers. Tickets on StubHub right now are around $2,000.

"Over 50 percent of StubHub sales have come from the state of Georgia," said Cameron Papp with StubHub.

Bulldogs fans crashed the StubHub website shortly after the team won the Rose Bowl.

"There's a lot of factors going into the demand being so high, but there's no question there are more donors and fans who want tickets than we're able to allocate to," Borman said.

The Georgia Bulldog Club said it wants to stress that all tickets have been accounted for and it has no more.