Comparing the Season Ticket Prices of the Forgotten 5
What if you walked up to or called the ticket office of a Group of Five team and wanted the cheapest season ticket? You’re not faculty or staff, not military and not a young alum, senior citizen or a child. Just a regular adult who wants a guaranteed ticket for every home game. You’re just a regular joe so you want the cheapest ticket possible. It might be a tad late to do it now consider the season (proper) begins in a few days, but we did the legwork for you.
Below is a list of all 62 Group of Five teams, including independents UMass and Army and soon-to-be Sun Belt member Coastal Carolina.
Note: None of these prices include fees or taxes, even if they’re listed in the advertisement. Also, this doesn’t take into account the availability of those tickets.
| Independent | |
| UMass | $120 |
| Army | $120 |
| Mountain West | American Athletic | MAC | CUSA | Sun Belt | |||||
| New Mexico | $96 | East Carolina | $150 | Akron | $60 | Charlotte | $100 | Appalachian State | $200 |
| Utah State | $95 | South Florida | $150 | Bowling Green | $66 | Old Dominion | $187 | Georgia Southern | $135 |
| UNLV | $99 | UCF | $99 | Miami OH | $105 | Marshall | $115 | Georgia State | $100 |
| Air Force | $100 | Cincinnati | $99 | Ohio | $100 | Western Kentucky | $80 | Troy | $60 |
| Wyoming | $126 | UConn | $175 | Buffalo | $125 | MTSU | $90 | South Alabama | $60 |
| Nevada | $99 | Temple | $98 | Kent State | $60 | FAU | $60 | Louisiana | $110 |
| Boise State | $165 | Navy | $125 | Ball State | $45 | FIU | $50 | UL Monroe | $100 |
| Colorado State | $140 | SMU | $99 | Northern Illinois | $99 | Southern Miss | $110 | Texas State | $80 |
| Fresno State | $173 | Houston | $124 | Western Michigan | $108 | Louisiana Tech | $100 | Arkansas State | $100* |
| San Diego State | $99 | Tulane | $200 | Eastern Michigan | $75 | Rice | $100 | New Mexico State | $50 |
| San Jose State | $99 | Tulsa | $78 | Central Michigan | $120 | UTSA | $78 | Idaho | $60 |
| Hawaii | $99 | Memphis | $100 | Toledo | $100 | North Texas | $60 | Coastal Carolina (FCS) | $120 |
| UTEP | $75 |
*EDIT: I’ve been told the Arkansas State $60 price was a limited offer for the first 100 buyers.
Here’s the conference averages.
Mountain West average – $115.83
American Athletic average – $124.75
Mid-American average – $88.58
Conference USA average – $92.69 (UAB’s cheapest for an average joe in 2014 was $125)
Sun Belt average – $92.27 ($94.58 with Coastal)
As you can see, the American Athletic is the top average while the MAC is the lowest. I’m guessing all those mid-week MACtion games don’t help.
A bit surprisingly, the most expensive cheapest ticket in all the Group of Five is a tie between Tulane and App State at $200. Tulane is struggling to win while App State won 11 games last season, so those two schools are far apart in many different ways. Next highest is $187 for Old Dominion, which has sold out every game in their history.
The cheapest ticket comes from the cheapest conference as Ball State of the MAC is just $45 for six home games. That’s $7.50 a game. I’m guessing all that mid-week MACtion doesn’t drive a market for buying tickets. FIU and New Mexico State are next-lowest at $50 and well, those kind-of explain themselves.
There’s not any discernible correlation between lowest ticket prices and winning. Peach Bowl champs Houston’s cheapest option is at $128 for six games, including Oklahoma, seems like a heck of a deal. So is $80 for defending CUSA champs Western Kentucky, $60 for defending Sun Belt champs Arkansas State and $66 for defending MAC champs Bowling Green. Only $99 for defending Mountain West champs San Diego State comes close to Houston.
I would just like to say for the record that South Alabama’s tickets are definitely overpriced.
Tulane’s price has to be for making up the cost of Yulman Stadium. Question is — how many people will they run off with that price, given how bad their program currently is? It’s very high risk/high reward imo…if Fritz wins, they’ll rake in the dough, obviously. But if they continue to suck, they might actually make the same amount of money they would with cheaper tickets, but with fewer butts in the seats.