Texas students have been scrambling in a Facebook frenzy over tickets to the Longhorns’ showdown against No. 10 Notre Dame on Sunday.
The game will kick off the Longhorns’ anticipated season and will be the first sellout of head coach Charlie Strong’s Texas tenure, according to Texas Athletics. It will also include the historical unveiling of Bevo XV.
The Big Ticket, the student six-home-game package, costs $175 — each ticket is worth $29. But Texas students know the significance of Sunday night’s matchup. Student buying and trading Facebook groups are flooded with sales posts of student tickets for an upwards of $100.
Petroleum engineering sophomore Amy Rueve sold her ticket for $130 within twenty minutes of making a post.
“People are willing to pay a pretty big amount of money for it,” Rueve said, “So if I sell it for this game then I can pay off more than half of The Big Ticket. I go to football games because they’re fun, but it’s not like I follow it.”
Like Rueve, other students are finding success selling their tickets at elevated prices. As the posts continue to roll in, comments by students collect within minutes.
Many students attempt to justify the elevated prices, stating that their tickets are in sections 28 or 29, which are seated around midfield — usually reserved for upperclassmen. However, there are other students who find the prices frustrating because they aren’t affordable and are close to the same price as the entire season ticket package.
Advertising senior Alexa Vecchio is looking for a ticket to the Notre Dame game after learning there were complications with her Big Ticket order on Wednesday morning. As a three-year season-ticket holder, Vecchio isn’t willing to pay more than $60 — twice a ticket’s value — to see the game.
“Most are sticking to at least $100, so they’re not willing to go down to $60,” Vecchio said, “I don’t think just one game should be costing more than half of what the Big Ticket costs. I just feel like the prices just multiplied from social media influence. Everyone’s just seeing everyone else’s prices and just bumping them up because of the demand.”
Defensive coordinator Vance Bedford said he doesn’t understand why students would sell their tickets. He said fans should take advantage of the chance to see the two storied programs play.
Bedford pleaded with fans to fill the stands with burnt orange as the team looks to jump-start the year with a win.
“This is Notre Dame and Texas,” Bedford said. “[They are] two of the top programs in the history of college footbalI … I ask fans to not sell their tickets to Notre Dame.”
