Mizzou doubles most football season-ticket prices as part of ‘Will to Win’ initiative
After announcing a revamped fundraising model last Monday, including significantly increased ticket prices for football and men’s basketball, Mizzou Athletics sent invoices to season-ticket holders Thursday with more information.
For football season-tickets, nearly all ticket prices and required donation amounts are up over 50%.
Mizzou athletic director Laird Veatch said Nov. 30 that season-ticket holders and donors would expect a message about an estimated price change in “two to three weeks,” and sure enough, that message came almost two weeks to the day of that statement.
For football, estimated ticket prices and minimum donations to the athletic department are up at least 50% for almost all available seats, which doesn’t include the student section (Sections 107-110) and sections allotted for fans of the visiting team (Section 101, Sections 301-304 and Sections 312-315).
Some costs are up 100%. The only sections to not see that large of an estimated increase from this season to next are Sections 305-311, which increased to $149 per seat from $140 last season.
Here’s the full breakdown of football season-ticket prices by section:
• The orange sections (most of 105, 106, 120 and 121) are up to $600 from $399 (50.4% increase), and the minimum donation required is up to $800 from $500 (60% increase).
• The magenta sections (parts of 119 and 122) are up to $600 from $399 (50.4% increase), and the minimum donation required is up to $500 from $315 (58.7% increase).
• The turquoise sections (parts of 104) are up to $600 from $379 (58.3% increase), and the minimum donation required is up to $500 from $315 (58.7% increase).
• The red sections (parts of 104, 105, 106, 119 and 122) are up to $600 from $379 (58.3% increase), and the minimum donation required is up to $250 from $150 (66.7% increase).
• The lavender sections (parts of 103, 118 and 123) are up to $600 from $379 (58.3% increase), and the minimum donation required is up to $100 from $65 (53.8% increase).
• The gold sections (126-132) are up to $600 from $275 (118.2% increase), and the minimum donation required is up to $100 from $65 (53.8% increase).
• The green sections (102, 116, 117, 124 and 124) are up to $400 from $250 (60% increase), and the minimum donation required is up to $100 from $50 (100% increase).
• The blue sections (305-311) are up to $149 from $140 (6% increase).
For men’s basketball, here are the minimum donation prices required for each season ticket by section:
• Tiger Row floor seats: $5,000
• Area 2 club seats (Sections 105-107): $2,500
• Area 3 club seats (Sections 105-107): $2,000
• Area 4 (Section 115): $2,000
• Area 5 (Sections 105, 107, 110-114, 116 and 117): $1,500
• Area 6 (Sections 105-107, 114-116): $750
• Area 7 (Sections 103, 104, 108-113, 117, 118): $250
• Area 8 (Sections 205-207, 214-216): $125
Mizzou Athletics also released updated donation levels and benefits for 2025, including eligible parking locations, in-game hospitality, events, Tiger Team Store discounts and more. One of the benefits of a minimum donation of at least $15,000, for example, grants one access to all parking locations for football and men’s basketball games.
In its message to season-ticket holders, Mizzou Athletics was transparent in why it was embarking on this change, starting with the financial reasons for doing so.
“For many years, Mizzou was hesitant to raise ticket prices,” MU Athletics said. “In 2024, our prices — particularly in football — are well under the market rate. As a result, we’re well behind our peers in the SEC and regional Power 4 peers in revenue generation.”
The statement was supplemented by a graph that showed Mizzou significantly trailing most of its SEC counterparts in revenue generated, with the sample being from 2023, courtesy of USA Today.
While the SEC is on a different planet in terms of revenue compared to the rest of collegiate athletics — 11 of the top 20 schools in revenue generated in 2023 were from the SEC, including seven in the top 10 — the standard is one that Mizzou Athletics said it wants to achieve despite the challenges it’s faced over the past nine years.
“In nine years, from 2015-24, Mizzou had four athletics directors, inconsistent on-field performance, faced the global pandemic and the onset of the NIL/revenue-sharing era,” it said. “While it was understandably difficult to establish the traction necessary to make these adjustments, it’s time to modernize our approach to reflect current demands while also providing more clarity and consistency to our fundraising model.”
While MU may be lacking behind its SEC peers in revenue, the fundraising model change comes at a time when its teams, especially football and men’s basketball, are on upward trajectories.
Football is 20-5 over the past two seasons, with a 13-1 record at home. Despite registering one of the worst campaigns in program history last season, men’s basketball is 9-1 with a win over then-No. 1 Kansas this past Sunday — its first victory over its archrival since 2012.
Not only have the Tigers experienced a lot of recent success in both sports, but many victories, especially on the gridiron, have seen stadium-shaking moments.
One of those moments included senior defensive end Zion Young’s game-winning fumble return touchdown against Oklahoma on Nov. 9, sending Memorial Stadium into a frenzy after it looked like the Tigers were left for dead numerous times.
With the athletic department asking fans for greater financial commitments, moments like those certainly help its case, and it was captured during a 98-second video narrated by former Mizzou quarterback Chase Daniel in the message to season-ticket holders.
In-game moments featured in the video include the men’s basketball team’s upset of Kansas and football team’s win over Oklahoma.
“Invest in the future. Join the roar,” Daniel said in the waning seconds of the video. “Embrace the will to win, because our best Mizzou memories have yet to happen.”
MU football is slated to play eight home games in 2025, with the first six in Columbia. Both are program firsts.
On a broader scale, with the rapid development of NIL and revenue sharing in college athletics, buying power is arguably more valuable than ever before.
It might be difficult for Mizzou to catch up to schools like Texas, Tennessee and Georgia in terms of revenue generated in the immediate future, especially as all three of those programs are set to compete in the first 12-team College Football Playoff.
However, especially with the recent successes of football and men’s basketball, Mizzou Athletics put itself in a position for its supporters to, according to them, subscribe to a “renewed commitment to build consistently winning programs.”
“Our staff has spent a significant amount of time over the past months analyzing our financial model, looking at pricing analytics, talking to peers and projecting revenues,” the athletic department said.
“This is a data-driven approach that is keeping the end goal in mind: Helping simplify our structure and grow our revenues so we can win at the highest level in the SEC and share memorable Mizzou Moments together.
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