I bought tickets for the entire season in both 16 and 17 from another TP member who was basically just keeping his/her seats but not going to any games that particular year. If you want to do it this way, you just wait until after the first game is played (the neutral site game) and then hop on StubHub. At that point there are folks that are selling them for - if you add it all up - face value for the seven-game pack. They're desperate enough you MIGHT get lucky and actually save a few bucks.
The problem, however, is you then have to go to the games - or try to sell/give away tickets - to such also rans as Charleston Southern.
My case, of course, is a bit unique. I live 600 miles away, so I have to figure in travel costs to the game. Since family lives an hour west of T-Town, I don't have to worry about hotels, but it's either "plane plus rental car" or "gas and car wear" for me. And as I've aged, it's much more difficult to drive for that long, especially when I'm the only one.
The good has been that those two years have been a major help in my recovery from divorce - and we've had a good on-field product.
Almost everything else has been bad.
1) Tide Pride is an old pre-Internet way of doing things.
When TP came into existence, the Internet was just something the military sort of had. There was no such thing as StubHub, GameTime, Seat Geek or whatever. We didn't have so many connections to so many other people who could "hook a brother up" with tickets. Btw - for those thinking that comparing CFB to other sports doesn't work - you might want to consider that attending a regular season hockey game in Boston has upper deck face value seats of $65 for a game against Edmonton. It's above $100 for rivals like the NY teams. The same is true - to a lesser extent - of St Louis in baseball.
OK, so you have points and get a guaranteed spot for the national title game if we make it. But we already know years in advance where that game will be played so anyone planning to go can plot their route and reserve a hotel a year out (and out from the city). And you can always find a scalper right there, too. If you use Southwest Airlines, you can even reserve your flight 60 days out - and if we lose in the early round or don't make it, you can cancel and use those funds for up to a year later. (This may not help if you only travel once a decade but most do more than this).
I can attend the Ole Miss, Arky, Tennessee, LSU, and the national title game traveling from DFW and spend LESS MONEY than it will cost a TP season ticket holder to see those same games. That's from 2017 btw - and you're still stuck with tickets to Fresno, Colorado St, and Mercer. The only thing that might flip that observation is the fact the last game was against UGA in Atlanta.
2) You give up EVERYTHING to go to the "game day experience"
I'll admit I didn't contemplate this until I experienced it, but it became an issue the more I thought about it. You are giving up EVERY OTHER GAME that day to see Alabama play. This is worth it if we're talking LSU or Georgia and 1 or 2 other teams depending on the year, but I've missed out on a LOT of things happening. Remember the infamous UGA-Tennessee "Double Hail Mary" game? I missed it, didn't even know about it until late Sunday. Why? Because my son and I were driving all day to the UK game and had to bolt for some rest because we had the same drive back the next day. And BDS is notorious for delaying the display of scores that Tide fans want to know.
The stadium Wi-Fi is the worst I've ever experienced, too, so I can't find the scores. I also missed the infamous Ohio State-Michigan game a few years ago where the Buckeyes were trailing late and there was a whole controversy over a spot or something (I may have details wrong because I didn't see the game).
3) The Game Day Experience is worth it - once - but it's kind of overrated once you've done it several times.
My first BDS game was the 2012 Miss State game. For those who don't remember, the Bulldogs were undefeated entering that game and ranked eleventh. Those two schools are geographically closer than any other SEC schools so you have a 1 vs 11 showdown between two unbeaten teams. But the stadium never came close to filling out for a Sat night game, and it looked abandoned at halftime after we took a 24-0 lead and the wind chill entered the low 40s. My entire section was empty except for me and a few diehards several rows below by the time we got to the final five minutes.
Now....2016 ATM was very good. It wasn't like the 10 IB or 12 ATM, where you could feel the electricity coming through the TV - but it was probably the best game day experience I had.
But once you've done it, well, that's pretty much it. Three weeks later I went to the MSU game that the PTB gave us an 11 am kickoff. When they cranked up "Sweet Home Alabama" at 1030, almost the ENTIRE upper West side was STILL empty. It never did fill in, either, and who can blame them? It was a 51-3 romp where the only mystery was whether Adam Griffith could miss a lot of kicks.
Keep in mind that after you've spent the 3.5 hours in the BDS heat (in most cases), you then have to spend about a half hour stumbling over people to get to your car, hoping you can actually get out in traffic just to sit another half hour, and then you have to drive home or to wherever you're staying that particular night.
I first inquired of Tide Pride at the end of the 1996 season. I was a pretty poor E-4 at the time so going to football games wasn't very high on my list. Then came a baby and a move, and I forgot all about it. I guess if you make Bill Gates money and want to sit on the 50 then fine. But most of us don't have that option.
I get why they're doing this, but if I'm the consumer it's the last straw, too. I've already decided that AT MOST I'm going to two games next year, Tennessee and/or LSU. We have TJC coming for an inspection early next year so national title game attendance is out even though it's only over to New Orleans.