COLUMBIA, Mo. - Two weeks before the start of the 2022 season, Mizzou football’s non-student season ticket sales have already exceeded last year’s totals but are overall lagging behind recent season figures.
As of Aug. 10, Mizzou had sold 18,589 non-student season ticket packages and 5,071 student season ticket packages for a total of 23,660, according to university figures submitted to the Post-Dispatch through an open records request. Last season, Mizzou sold 18,247 non-student season packages and 7,108 student packages for a total of 25,355.
The Tigers kick off Eli Drinkwitz’s third season as head coach on Sept. 1 against Louisiana Tech, a rare Thursday night game at Memorial Stadium.
As athletics director Desiree Reed-Francois begins her second year at Mizzou, the athletics department has been exploring new ways to boost ticket sales. The school is launching a first-of-its-kind program that allows MU students to sell single-game tickets to sporting events for a 20% commission. Also, for the Sept. 1 opener, Mizzou recently announced a sales special, offering university and staff faculty members four tickets for $50. Single-game tickets for Mizzou's seven home games went on sale earlier this month.
People are also reading…
Despite a reduced stadium capacity of 61,620, Mizzou didn’t draw 50,000 for a single home game last year and has announced only one home sellout since Gary Pinkel’s last season in 2015. The only sellout over the last six years came in 2019 when the Tigers hosted Mississippi for homecoming.
Mizzou home crowds averaged 46,516 last season, which ranked 13th in the Southeastern Conference — ahead of only Vanderbilt — and No. 41 among all FBS programs.
Memorial Stadium’s capacity was reduced to around 11,700 for six home games in 2020 during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. That year, Mizzou sold 6,013 overall season tickets.
In 2019, Barry Odom’s last season as head coach, Mizzou sold 19,869 non-student ticket packages and 6,662 student packages. In 2018, when the Tigers finished 8-5, the school sold 20,883 non-student packages and 4,693 student packages. That dropped from 2017, when MU sold 24,312 non-student packages and 6,660 student packages.