In anticipation of the 2012 BCS National Championship game, folks at the Sugar Bowl are running a Team Ticket Reservation Marketplace. Basically, you can purchase a reservation to buy a ticket to the title game if your team makes it. We have been covering this over at Roll Bama Roll since Alabama fans weren't shy about putting their money down on the chance their team would make it to New Orleans for the game on Jan. 9.

Crimson Tide fans bought out all the available tickets for three of the four sections within a week of the marketplace opening on Feb. 4. Only LSU and Texas have sold out a single section. (The second chart shows the best price being offered in the marketplace's secondary market for the ticket reservations.)

Still, the fact is that fans of several SEC teams are tremendously bullish about the upcoming season. The above chart shows all the teams that have thus far seen sales (as of Feb. 26) and no less than six SEC fanbases are represented. The Big 10 and Big 12 conferences both have just half that (and not necessarily the teams you might expect).

Obviously, these sales are likely to be infested with ticket brokers and the like but they are interesting in how they show what the market thinks about next year's teams. Which is a nice data point to consider as various polls of the top teams for next year begin to surface across the long wasteland of the off season.