Texas addresses ticket brokers ahead of the Longhorns' first SEC football season
The 2024 football season doesn't kick off for another six months, but Texas has already claimed a victory over one formidable foe.
The topic of ticket brokers was brought up at last week's Texas Athletics Town Hall. UT athletics director Chris Del Conte told those in attendance at the Hogg Auditorium that Texas was able to reclaim 4,102 season tickets that were destined to hit the secondary market for the upcoming season.
Texas identified 197 accounts, and the average account had purchased 21 season tickets to re-sell, Del Conte said.
"I wanted to make sure that we got tickets into our fans and not into brokers," said Del Conte, who added that there are more than 3,500 people on the wait list for season tickets. "When you look at the pricing of tickets that go on the secondary market, they're outrageous and I hear about them all the time. I'd rather get these tickets into you directly and that you and your families can enjoy coming to a game and not have to go to a secondary market to buy a ticket and maybe only get one game a year because you couldn't afford it."
According to a Texas spokesperson, the school doesn't have a policy against the resale of its tickets, and Del Conte wrote in his Forty Acres Insider post on Jan. 30 that this "doesn't change anything when it comes to a time where you may need to work through our identified channels for a game you are not able to attend and need to exchange or sell your game ticket."
But UT has made it clear that the school just won't be selling its season tickets to the aforementioned brokers in the first place.
Texas sent out a letter last Tuesday informing brokers about the reclaimed tickets. Del Conte told a story about a broker who reached out to ask for Texas to reconsider since he had already resold 100 tickets. Del Conte said he understands the broker business, but responded by saying, "Sir, I'm not your personal business person. I appreciate what you've done, but those tickets belong to the University of Texas and we want those to go to our fans."
Texas has sold out of season tickets in each of the past two seasons. UT sold more than 68,000 season tickets last year, which was a school record and a number that didn't include the tickets set aside for UT students. Texas' average attendance in 2023 was 101,625 for its home games, which was fifth-best nationally.
This year the Longhorns have seven games on their home schedule. Texas, which is joining the SEC, will host Georgia on Oct. 19 and Florida on Nov. 9. The Longhorns also will host Colorado State on Aug. 31, UTSA on Sept. 14, Louisiana-Monroe on Sept. 21, Mississippi State on Sept. 28 and Kentucky on Nov. 23.
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas addresses brokers as demand for football season tickets rises
