Missouri adds Mizzou Arena courtside seats, walks back changes to student section

Missouri has walked back recent changes to the Mizzou Arena student section after a wave of backlash from students and fans alike.

“We’ve heard your feedback about how the new courtside seating has affected the student section,” MU athletic director Laird Veatch wrote in a post on X, addressing students. “It was clear the configuration needed to improve and we had to do better.”

On Oct. 23, Missouri announced it was adding baseline courtside seats to Mizzou Arena following a new SEC rule that allowed schools to expand their courtside seating options. To do so, MU pushed back the student section multiple rows, which also raised it much further off the ground.

Mizzou was far from the only school to alter its seating. Mississippi State and Vanderbilt have added similar seats, while Tennessee and Arkansas have revamped some of their premium seating options.

Adding more premium seating was the university’s latest move in hopes of raising money in the new age of NIL and revenue-sharing. The school is undergoing a historic renovation to Memorial Stadium, has begun collecting bids for additional campus development to try and attract more tourists, and has revamped its scholarship fund.

In theory, the more money Mizzou makes, the better the players it can pay for.

To get an idea of what dollar figures Mizzou could be looking at, Tennessee lists its baseline courtside seats at $5,325 a pop per year. Although Tennessee has a richer basketball history than the Tigers, Mizzou, with an estimated 40 baseline seats added, could generate upward of $100,000. That could be enough to grab another player in the transfer portal or out of high school.

“Today’s reality is a need to generate significant revenue to reinvest in our programs through talent acquisition and retention,” Veatch wrote.

However, the decision sparked criticism from students, alumni and even current Mizzou athletes who alleged the displaced student section would limit the home-court advantage Mizzou Arena provides.

After the move, comment sections under posts from Mizzou Athletics were flooded by fans clamoring for administrators to fix the student section.

An X account called SaveTheZOU popped up and started posting photos of the old section daily in an attempt to get administration to reverse the change. One of its posts was even retweeted by Mizzou hoops’ towering redshirt-freshman center Trent Burns.

Throughout it all, Mizzou stayed quiet. But it was certainly listening.

The new announcement moved the student section closer to the court, while also keeping the premium seats and the railing between the students and the hardwood floor. The barrier is likely designed to stop court rushes, which cost the home team $500,000 for every offense, paid directly to the opponent.

The Antlers, a group of students who are known for attending Mizzou basketball games at the front of the student section, were able to go and see the changes firsthand Monday. Camden Millheiser, the organization’s president, commended Mizzou for listening to feedback and making changes quickly.

“It looks a lot better,” Millheiser said. “They added two new rows that don’t have specific seats, so we can pack a ton of students in.”

Millheiser said while it’s not perfect, he recognizes why the changes were made.

“We still aren’t as close as we used to be, but we understand that Mizzou is trying to find ways to raise revenue in this environment.”

Copyright 2025 Columbia Missourian

This story was originally published November 4, 2025 at 6:30 AM with the headline "Missouri adds Mizzou Arena courtside seats, walks back changes to student section."