News Article: Student Ticket Price Increasing

[lowend]

In another boneheaded move designed to alienate people, student tickets are increasing over 50% from $171 to $256 next season. This is for the full home game package that only some students are eligible for. I think we will continue to see a less-than-full student section for most home games next year with many students that would go unable to get in the stadium.

Under 10 wins, over $200: Student football tickets jump in price

The price of the student football full home ticket package increased from $171 to $256 for the 2025 season. This is a nearly 50% increase from last season’s package. Ella Cameron, a freshman majoring in business management, said she’s buying the package because she’s a “ride or die Alabama...

thecrimsonwhite.com

 

[Jack Bourbon]

Gotta beef up that payroll! Just skip the chemistry book — let’s face it, most ppl will probably fail that one anyway.

 

[Slowpoke Catracho]

Wow! When I was at FSU in the 90s a student ticket was free. We then had to pay an athletic fee of $10 to help build the new Stadium and this was after the 1st MNC. How times change!

 

[mikeua69]

Wow! When I was at FSU in the 90s a student ticket was free. We then had to pay an athletic fee of $10 to help build the new Stadium and this was after the 1st MNC. How times change!

I think I paid $35 ($5 a game) in 1999

 

[BamaHoopsBoi]

It's one thing to alienate the alums and the fans, but the students who are enrolled? Stupid.

 

[lowend]

It's one thing to alienate the alums and the fans, but the students who are enrolled? Stupid.

And somehow, the greeks will still get their sections in the best seats (to arrive to late and leave early from) and the regular students will get the crap seats in the upper deck.

 

[BamaFanatJSU]

While I can certainly understand the students not wanting to pay the increased price, I personally would love to be able to attend every single UA home game for $32 per game.

 

[AlexanderFan]

And somehow, the greeks will still get their sections in the best seats (to arrive to late and leave early from) and the regular students will get the crap seats in the upper deck.

I will explain the “somehow” - $$$$$$$

You think it was about money before? Now that it’s an arms race I foresee many fees incoming.

 

[black03mach]

I think ticket packages will still sell out, when I was in school (2017 grad) there was a lottery to get the home tickets. I think it was like 100 dollars or something. If you were not on at the opening, refreshing the screen you missed out. I might have not gotten tickets for one season.

 

[CrimsonNagus]

New stadium chant:

NIL, NIL, NIL, NIL, NIL, NIL, NIL, NIL!

You're welcome, from everyone that wanted players to get paid.

 

[4Q Basket Case]

I will explain the “somehow” - $$$$$$$

You think it was about money before? Now that it’s an arms race I foresee many fees incoming.

Amen, brother.

There's going to be all kinds of fees coming for everybody. I predict increased Tide Pride fees and/or a required donation to the collective. I also predict fees for faculty and staff tickets.

I'd be willing to bet that some seats currently in the student section, as well as some currently going to faculty and staff, will be shifted over to Tide Pride. Students and their parents will howl, but photos of the half-empty student section for even mid to upper tier SEC games speak so loudly that we can't hear the complaints about losing tickets.

It might even come to the point of cutting some non-revenue sports altogether. Probably men's non-revenue sports because it's about mathematically impossible to cut women's sports and still comply with Title IX.

For those that don't like the fees, put yourself in Greg Byrne's shoes for a day.

You have a $10M head football coach. And a $6 million head basketball coach.

And you have a coaching staff that collectively make about that much.

And that doesn't count a whole laundry list of support personnel -- nutritionists, psychological counselors, academic counselors, etc., etc., ad infinitum.

And you need to pay players a minimum of $22 million to be competitive.

And you have a basketball team that needs more pay-for-play money.

And they need a new arena.

And you have a whole slew of non-revenue sports that nevertheless cost money (mainly for scholarships, less so for pay-for-play).

And you need to deal with Title IX scholarship requirements.

And you need to field a football team that competes for championships because it's hard to get people to donate to mediocre teams.

And you have a vocal portion of the fanbase that wants all that without it affecting their wallets at all.

Clearly, some people are upset at the decision to raise student ticket prices (yes, they were free when I was in school almost 50 years ago). That's fine. What better solution do you propose?

 

[mlh]

You have a $10M head football coach. And a $6 million head basketball coach.

And you have a coaching staff that collectively make about that much.

And that doesn't count a whole laundry list of support personnel -- nutritionists, psychological counselors, academic counselors, etc., etc., ad infinitum.

And you need to pay players a minimum of $22 million to be competitive.

And you have a basketball team that needs more pay-for-play money.

And they need a new arena.

And you have a whole slew of non-revenue sports that nevertheless cost money (mainly for scholarships, less so for pay-for-play).

And on...and on...

The financial requirements for the schools are becoming unsustainable. At some point it will all collapse. Considering most universities lose money currently on their sports programs, the collapse may be sooner rather than later. It will be interesting to see what rises up out of the rubble.

 

[lowend]

What better solution do you propose?

Stop selling packages, eliminate group seating, and have students digitally pull tickets on a per-game basis. All-seating is first come-first served and assigned digitally based on when you get your ticket. Tickets are only transferable to other students. Any tickets not redeemed by the end of the first quarter are available at a walk-up window at face value. Have a penalty system for unredeemed or multiple transfers in a season. Much of that is already done, but I firmly believe that there are plenty of students to fill the student section that can't even get in the gates.

Also, one thing that people don't think a lot about is where funding for cheerleaders, the Million Dollar Band, pep bands, etc. comes from. Could we possibly see those groups reduced in size, less travel, etc?

 

[4Q Basket Case]

Stop selling packages, eliminate group seating, and have students digitally pull tickets on a per-game basis. All-seating is first come-first served and assigned digitally based on when you get your ticket. Tickets are only transferable to other students. Any tickets not redeemed by the end of the first quarter are available at a walk-up window at face value. Have a penalty system for unredeemed or multiple transfers in a season. Much of that is already done, but I firmly believe that there are plenty of students to fill the student section that can't even get in the gates.

Also, one thing that people don't think a lot about is where funding for cheerleaders, the Million Dollar Band, pep bands, etc. comes from. Could we possibly see those groups reduced in size, less travel, etc?

You’re essentially saying that students who don’t currently get tickets are more likely to attend games than those who do.

I don’t know if that’s accurate or not, but it would be an interesting idea.

I understand your interest in keeping greek groups from dominating the best student seats. I’m not sure, though, that keeping groups from sitting together (whether they’re Greek or some other campus organization) is a winning proposition.

I’d be willing to experiment until they hit on something that incents students to fill the student section. As it stands today, they drown out their arguments with their own absence.

 

[The Ols]

It's one thing to alienate the alums and the fans, but the students who are enrolled? Stupid.

Do you folks think the students pay for the tickets?
lol!!! The parents do! I do! The kids don’t care about the money. The problem there is that we sold out and started taking all of the out of state money. The students don’t care about football or the school anymore. The girls are all here from the north East because of “Bama Rush.” I’m in the middle of a family issue myself. My niece is going to Bama from Chicago next year. Her dad’s been giving me crap about bama for 30 years…he went to Indiana.
Now she’s going because of a 2 hour video…not 100+ years of History…she’s didn’t know who Bear Bryant was…most of them don’t…and don’t care either, because they got to the stadium get their instagram pics…now get the heck off my lawn!!!

 

[Crimson1967]

I think eventually the system will collapse on itself but that might take years.

Recently, St Francis of Pennsylvania announced they are dropping from D1 to D3. That’s just one small school nobody has heard of but they did make the NCAA this year, losing in the play-in game. That’s one school the big boys can’t use to pad their records in basketball and football (they were FCS).

Could that be a trend? If more of their ilk drop down it could start a tidal wave. Some might be forced to drop because their conference vanished. Non-revenue sports start to go away.

 

[mlh]

I would not be terribly upset to see college sports return to truly amateur status. No NIL. No scholarships. Players who are actually student athletes. Kids who love the game and take pride in representing their university. Worse things could happen. In fact, we're seeing worse things now.

 

[CrimsonTitles]

Also, one thing that people don't think a lot about is where funding for cheerleaders, the Million Dollar Band, pep bands, etc. comes from. Could we possibly see those groups reduced in size, less travel, etc?

And this is one of the many reasons why all the players getting a cut was just never practical. It's easy to say they deserve a cut because of all the money these universities these bring in, but not when you realize most of this money is already accounted for, because it's used to fund all the programs. We are destroying opportunities for everyone else, just so the players in basically 2 sports can get paid, and it's really only just a small percentage of the players in those sports. How many lives will be changed for the worse because they never got the experience of playing college athletics, and learned all the life lessons that come along with it? This goes for not only sports, but band and cheerleading as well. These opportunities are wayyyyy more important for many people, than for the players to make money playing sports. Money is great, but it doesn't last, and thus we shouldn't wreck the entire institution over it, but I guess what's done is done.

 

[Bamabuzzard]

And this is one of the many reasons why all the players getting a cut was just never practical. It's easy to say they deserve a cut because of all the money these universities these bring in, but not when you realize most of this money is already accounted for, because it's used to fund all the programs. We are destroying opportunities for everyone else, just so the players in basically 2 sports can get paid, and it's really only just a small percentage of the players in those sports. How many lives will be changed for the worse because they never got the experience of playing college athletics, and learned all the life lessons that come along with it? This goes for not only sports, but band and cheerleading as well. These opportunities are wayyyyy more important for many people, than for the players to make money playing sports. Money is great, but it doesn't last, and thus we shouldn't wreck the entire institution over it, but I guess what's done is done.

But we are...

I've said this before, and I'll keep saying it: this is what "fair" looks like.

 

[JTH]

Future college football games