The University of Minnesota reports it has sold 23,513 public season football tickets as of August 23. This total is down from the 25,317 total at a similar date last year.
This year and in the past Sports Headliners requested and received ticket sales information from the University through the public records process. Last year’s final football season tickets total was 25,396.
The Golden Gophers had a losing season in 2023, going 6-7 overall and 3-6 in Big Ten games. This followed consecutive 9-4 seasons when Minnesota’s conference records were 6-3 and 5-4 respectively.
In response to why fans aren’t renewing or buying season tickets, the U report said: “The most common reason given for fans not buying season tickets was that they had a change in their life circumstances or life event that led them to forgo buying season tickets in 2024.”
For the most part, season ticket pricing didn’t significantly change from 2023. Instead of seven zones for seats there are now six, with Zone 7 consolidated into Zone 6 and pricing changed from $249 to $310.
Also, the Gopher Pass increased from $199 to $249. That cost now includes a six-month membership to the official U sports collective, Dinkytown Athletes, that assists student-athletes with Name, Image and Likeness opportunities.
The Gopher Pass is a mobile ticket that allows fans access to all home games with either a reserved seat or standing room if the game is sold out. As of last week, 726 Gopher Passes had been sold as compared with 1,004 sold (final total) in 2023.
The public season tickets total includes the Gopher Pass and faculty-staff purchases. The latter group buys tickets at approximately 20 percent off the general public’s cost, with prices ranging from $248 to $1,200 depending on seat location. The number of faculty-staff tickets sold as of last week was 831 compared with a final total of 916 in 2023.
The total student season tickets reported was 6,590, compared with an ending total of 8,545 for 2023. Football season ticket prices for students increased from $99 to $116. However, students can pay $192 and have a football season ticket, plus either men’s basketball or hockey season—or they can pay $277 and have season admission to all three sports.
This will be the fourth consecutive year public season tickets will total 23,500 or better. The Gophers open their season tonight (August 29) so only a small window in time exists to add to the season tickets total.
Minnesota has one of its more attractive home schedules in years. The seven-game schedule at Huntington Bank Stadium includes tonight’s game with Power 4 North Carolina, and matchups against Big Ten rivals Iowa, USC, Maryland and Penn State.
In response to why fans, including students, are buying season tickets, the U report said: “The most common reason given for fans buying public and student season tickets is team consistency and strong conference affiliation/schedule.”
The Big Ten has expanded to 18 teams with the addition of USC and three other west coast schools, Oregon, UCLA and Washington. Media forecasts for the Gophers have them finishing 12th or lower in the standings.
Minnesota will be a slight underdog in tonight’s game where the U report predicts a sellout crowd of 50,805. In attendance will be approximately 9,555 first-year students with free tickets. The Gophers are expecting sellouts, or near sellouts, for the Iowa, USC and Penn State games.
The guesstimated revenue total from home game tickets sales for the season is $13,220,749. Last year it was $13,319,859.
Single game ticket pricing varies by opponents. To boost sales the U offers multiple incentives including state fair specials and alumni discounting for the Homecoming game October 26.
The last three years the Gophers announced average attendance for home games is 48,543 (2023), 45,019 and 46,139.
As is standard practice, the Athletic Department will pay guarantees to its nonconference opponents who play in Minneapolis. In 2024 North Carolina receives $200,000; Rhode Island, $500,000 and Nevada, $1.2 million.
The Gophers, as with all Big Ten teams, keep all ticket and ancillary revenues from home games.