As of this week, the University of Minnesota reports the Athletic Department has sold 23,089 public season football tickets. This is the third consecutive year of decline in public season tickets. The 2024 total was 23,592 total and in 2023 25,396 tickets were sold.
This year and in the past Sports Headliners requested and received ticket sales information from the University through the public records process. The public season tickets total includes the Gopher Pass and faculty-staff purchases. The Gopher Pass is a mobile ticket that allows fans access to all home games with either a seat or standing room if the game is sold out.
The U reports 7,924 student season tickets sold, after that total was 8,013 last year and 8,545 in 2023. Students can pay $116 and have a football season ticket. For $277 a ticket can be purchased for men’s hockey, men’s basketball and football. A third option is to pay $192 for football and choose either men’s hockey or men’s basketball season admission.
The student ticket pricing is the same as last year. Student enrollment at the Minneapolis-St. Paul campus, BTW, is approximately 55,000.
The U reported no increase in base pricing or required donation for public season tickets in 2025. Order charges increased from $30 to $50.
Public season ticket pricing with a guaranteed seat location for each game starts at $310. The Gopher Pass costs $254.
Recent history shows the Gophers aren’t growing their season ticket base but are sustaining a total of over 30,000 combined with public and student sales. This is the fifth consecutive year the public season ticket total has exceeded 23,000.
Factors impacting sales include pricing and time commitment to attend a game, but the list starts with winning. In 2023, when the Gophers had sold 25,396 public season tickets, the team disappointed with a 6-7 overall record that included 3-6 in the Big Ten.
Last year Minnesota bounced back, going 8-5 and 5-4. Since 2019 coach P.J. Fleck has delivered an 11-win season, and twice won nine games to go with the eight-victory total in 2024. He has also won six consecutive bowl games.
Yet, the public is still waiting for a breakthrough period when Minnesota is a top 25 team and contender for the College Football Playoff. That kind of success would fuel ticket sales and attendance to an all-time high for the Fleck era that began in 2017.
Such a development would be welcomed with open arms in the Athletic Department, which depends on football for a major share of revenue to support itself and other men’s and women’s varsity sports. For this fiscal year, the department has projected a near $9 million deficit in the first school year of sharing revenues with athletes including football players.
The last three seasons at Huntington Bank Stadium (capacity 50,805) average attendance starting with 2022 has been 45,019, 48,543 and 47,467. After two nonconference games this summer, attendance is averaging 45,111.
Attendance includes paid and free admission. The U reports, for example, 9,827 tickets were distributed to first-year students and freshmen for the season opening game with Buffalo.
For the opener there was also a 24-hour promotion selling tickets to the public for $10 each. The U reports that “6,323 tickets were sold during the 24-hour promotional sale, 3,725 of which were priced at $10, inclusive of all taxes and fees.”
For nonconference home games the U must pay opponents a financial guarantee. Buffalo was paid $1,450,000, while Northwestern State received $500,000.
The Gophers play at California on Saturday night and will receive $300,000. That’s the same total Cal will receive for playing in Minneapolis in 2028.
The Minnesota Big Ten home schedule includes games with Nebraska and Wisconsin. The U reports both games “are projected to sell out.”
Other Big Ten teams coming to Minneapolis are Rutgers, Purdue and Michigan State. A strong start to the season by the Gophers might push near capacity crowds for those games including for Homecoming against Purdue on October 11.
No Over Emphasis on UST Men’s First Shot at the “Big Dance”
The University of St. Thomas men’s basketball program officially begins practice in less than two weeks and prepares for its first fully eligible season within NCAA Division I. The Tommies were not eligible for the NCAA Tournament their first four seasons in Division I after transitioning from Division III. Still, the Tommies played competitive basketball in those seasons including being one win away from winning the postseason Summit League championship last March.
Certainly the Tommies, who were 24-10 overall last season, will be excited if they earn their way into the “Big Dance” and an opportunity to play on national TV next winter but look for coach John Tauer and his players to keep things process driven and in perspective. Tauer told Sports Headliners there’s been no team meeting to discuss March Madness.
Instead, Tauer expects his team to approach things game by game and “play to our standards.” Steady is the word for the program Tauer has been leading since 2011. “Our kids are very humble. I think they have things in perspective. …”
Coming off program bests in both the NET rankings and KenPom computer rankings last season, the Tommies have five newcomers and 10 returning players on their roster. “I think we have a lot of depth, and it fits with the up-tempo style that we like to play,” Tauer said.
Tauer also said he “wouldn’t feel very confident” predicting who will be his five starters. Regardless, he likes to use nine or 10 players in each game.
Among returnees is forward Carter Bjerke from Wayzata High School. He started 17 games last season as a redshirt sophomore, finished fifth in the Summit League in three-pointers made. Tauer believes Bjerke is poised for a “breakout season.”
Another returner is sophomore guard Ben Oosterbaan who also played in all 34 games last season. He has deep ties to the University of Michigan where both of his parents attended and uncle J.P. Oosterbaan played on the 1989 national championship basketball team. The family dog is named after the school’s colors, maize and blue.
Newcomers include Austin Herro, the brother of NBA All-Star Tyler Herro. Austin, a redshirt sophomore guard, transferred in from South Carolina. “He’s an unbelievable passer,” Tauer said. “He makes the team better in every way.”
The UST men’s and women’s basketball teams will open their 2025-26 home schedules in a doubleheader against Army West Point on Saturday, November 8, at the new Lee & Penny Anderson Arena. The academy is the alma mater of Lee Anderson. Tauer said his Tommies will play a return game at West Point in November of 2026.
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