It’s an exciting time to be around BYU athletics — but it comes with a price.
With the school’s transition into the Big 12 and subsequent success in football and basketball, the cost of single-game and season tickets has increased compared to prior seasons. As reported previously by the Deseret News, BYU fans paid more for football tickets in 2024 than ever before in program history.
Seating at LaVell Edwards Stadium was reconfigured following the 2023 campaign, which resulted in some fans being moved from their longtime seats, and the Marriott Center is undergoing its own reseating process to be completed in time for the start of the coming season.
“Well, it’s really unprecedented. The demand right now to be part of BYU and the demand in Cougar Nation for tickets is unprecedented. There’s never been a time quite like this,” BYU athletic director Brian Santiago said last week in an appearance on "BYU Sports Nation."
“We’ve talked about the momentum that’s been created by Kalani (Sitake), by Kevin (Young) and the success of the programs. It’s really phenomenal to know that we have a fan base that is so passionate about our teams and about this university.”
Santiago noted that BYU football season tickets “sold out almost immediately,” and men’s basketball “sold out the arena very quickly.” Additionally, BYU’s student all-sports passes for the ROC section sold out in about 60 minutes, with the price having risen to $225 for the season after being $200 the previous two years.
According to Santiago, BYU sold all of its 14,000 available ROC passes, while 20,000 students had been in the online purchasing queue.
“The demand is unprecedented, and we’re so grateful for that,” Santiago said. “... It’s just a tribute to our team, but it’s really a tribute to our fan base. They want to be there. Our student section is the best in the country. The ROC is just passionate, beyond passionate.”
Santiago acknowledged the disappointment some fans are feeling regarding the current ticket situation, sharing that while the overall demand was somewhat surprising, there will still be ways to take part in this year’s action.
“What we’re trying to do is create an opportunity for all of our fans to have access. We understand, we’ve heard the frustrations, but the reality of it is, we’ve followed the same exact processes in our season ticket sales that we’ve always gone and done,” Santiago said. “We’re trying to make sure that it’s aligned in every sport so that when our fans come to buy their season tickets, they know exactly what the process is going to be.
“We knew there was heightened demand. We didn’t know that it would rise to these unprecedented levels. So there are some of our fans and some of our loyal people that have not had the opportunity to buy tickets, but we’re creating some opportunities where our fans are going to have access to watch our teams.”
One such opportunity will be single-game tickets, with Santiago ensuring that such an avenue will remain available even amid the intensified season ticket demand.
“There will be opportunities this year in both football and basketball for single ticket sales, especially during some of these times when the students are on break,” Santiago said. “There are going to be seats available. We’re going to do everything we can to give our fans an opportunity that didn’t get to buy season tickets to have access to our venues to watch our teams.”
Santiago also cited the basketball team’s various high-profile nonconference matchups across the country as another avenue for fans to take this season, along with football’s typical road trips as well.
“It’s one of the reasons why we are taking this (basketball) team to some of the venues that we’ve never taken them to before,” Santiago said. “We’re playing in Madison Square Garden, we’re playing in TD Garden in Boston, which is AJ (Dybantsa)’s home. We’re playing in Orlando over the Thanksgiving break. We’re starting the season in Las Vegas. We’re playing at the Delta Center.
“Our football program has six amazing home games and we’ve got amazing road games, where I’ve already heard from a number of fans, ‘We’re going to go on the road, we want to see our teams play.’ And for us, we need every member of Cougar Nation to feel like they’re in, all the way in. We’re all the way in, we need everyone to be all the way in. And we’re going to do everything we can to make sure every member of Cougar Nation has a chance to watch our teams.”
And to Cougar fans who may be priced out or otherwise unable to attend BYU games this season, Santiago assured them that their concerns have not fallen on deaf ears and changes could be made in the future.
“We hear you, and we’re sitting in rooms and looking at all of it. We want all of Cougar Nation to have total access to BYU sports. And so we’re sitting back looking at all of our processes, making sure they’re consistent, making sure that we’re doing it the right way, making sure that we are giving everyone an opportunity,” Santiago said. “There are some things that we can adjust, and we will adjust moving forward. We hear you, we’ve met with many of you, we’ve talked to many of you that have called and have been frustrated with some of the processes, and we just want you to know that we’re in, and we want to do things the right way.
“... With the unprecedented demand this year, the number of our legacy and Cougar Club members that purchased tickets was higher than it’s ever been. The percentage of people that went in and purchased tickets to both sports was higher than it’s ever been, and it did catch us off guard a little bit.
Santiago continued, “But we’re going to make adjustments. We’re going to do everything we can to make BYU sports accessible to everyone in Cougar Nation, because we need everyone.”
