UK football season ticket sales down. Here’s how they compare to recent years
A massive offseason roster overhaul has not been enough to boost Kentucky football season ticket sales after a 4-8 2024 season.
Through the April 11 deadline for 2024 season ticket holders to renew their tickets for the 2025 season, sales were down 12.7% from the number of tickets sold by the 2024 spring renewal deadline. Those numbers include both renewals and new ticket sales.
In total, 75% of season ticket holders elected to renew for the 2025 season. The renewal percentage for the three previous seasons had been between 82 and 84%.
Kentucky has sold out its season tickets in each of the last two seasons, topping 40,000 season tickets in both years. Through May 12, Kentucky had sold 31,100 season ticket packages. That is still 2,541 fewer tickets than Kentucky sold by the April 12 renewal deadline in 2024.
The seat upgrade and add-on process for season ticket holders is underway. Fans can still purchase season tickets at UKFootballTix.com.
Ticket sales should continue to rise throughout the summer, but UK is tracking toward its smallest number of season tickets sold since 2021, when the school sold 32,718 season tickets as some fans were still reluctant to attend large gatherings due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
UK kept the cost of the total season ticket package stationary for 2025 ($300-$700), but the per-game price increased between $5.36 and $12.50 per game, depending on the type of season ticket purchased, because Kentucky will play one fewer game at Kroger Field in 2025 than in 2024.
While a lower number of season tickets may not be a good sign for fan interest, the final financial impact cannot be measured until after the season.
With a 2025 home schedule featuring marquee opponents Ole Miss, Texas, Tennessee and Florida, it is possible single game ticket sales can make up some of the deficit in season ticket sales, especially if the team exceeds expectations early in the season.
Kentucky has already passed the number of season ticket packages it sold for the entire 2018 season (30,531), but that team went on to win 10 games for the first time since 1977. Home games against Mississippi State, South Carolina and Georgia that season were all at or near capacity with announced attendances of at least 60,000. Capacity at Kroger Field is listed at about 61,000.
The poor 2018 season ticket sales did leave a financial toll though, as UK announced crowds of less than 50,000 for its first two home games that year against nonconference opponents Central Michigan and Murray State.
Announced crowds are typically described as tickets distributed, which includes all season tickets and any free tickets given for those games. Even after it became apparent the 2018 Wildcats were on their way to a special season, UK drew just 54,269 for an SEC home game against Vanderbilt and 47,535 for the home finale against Middle Tennessee.
The impact of a financial hit to football could be even more detrimental to the athletic department now than in 2018, too, with a federal judge expected to approve a legal settlement that will allow universities to share up to $20.5 million in revenue with athletes starting in July. Schools across the country are scrambling to find ways to add revenue to account for the new expense.
UK recently announced it would move its athletic department to an affiliated LLC in part to help remove regulations that could hamper efforts to build new revenue streams. Football and men’s basketball are currently the only profitable sports at in the department.
“I think it’s important for a lot of reasons,” UK athletics director Mitch Barnhart told the Herald-leader in March when asked about the importance of football to the financial health of the department. “No. 1, it’s a part of our DNA and how we build our program here. So that’s important to us. I think it’s important to the emotions and fabric of the university. The falls are special because we bring young people back to this campus in terms of the student body. Alumni come back here because of what goes on in Kroger Field.
“We have this wonderful thing out here called Keeneland, and we magically put those things together to create really cool weekends for people, and we create opportunities. And so if you’re competing at a high level, that only enhances all of that, makes it better.”