It has been a while since we have checked in on the rapacious pricing of Alabama football games. And despite the Tide’s more modest success of late, and Greg Byrne outsourcing everything for a quick buck, the costs have not grown more forgiving. No, in fact, Alabama had the second highest rise in cost of attendance this year.
And, across all tiers of service, attendance at an Alabama game is now the second most expensive college football environment in the country, behind only Colorado.
- Average college gameday cost: $184.67 for 2 people (+2.7% YoY)
- Most expensive: Colorado ($302), Alabama ($295) and Texas ($292).
In the case of the Crimson Tide, real pricing rose 17.6% between 2023 and 2024. And in year over year costs, attendance at an Alabama game costs 60% more now than it did in just five years ago.
But even that quoted figure of $295 per person greatly undersells the expense — that is only the face value of tickets, school-supplied parking, a soda and a hotdog.
In real dollars, of course, you can almosy certainly double that for an SEC game or OOC opponent of note.
If you do not have season tickets, you can bank on spending $400 to literally thousands for a pair of seats at a game in Bryant Denny.
And, no, you probably can’t afford even nosebleed season tickets now either, with the Crimson Tide also having the second most expensive ones in the country.
Alabama Crimson Tide – $2,500
It figures Alabama would land on this list. Bryant-Denny Stadium is always full, which
means season tickets are not only scarce but also expensive. The cheaper seats will run around $1,700 (with very limited numbers available), but most are at $2,500
and more.
Georgia Bulldogs – $2,700 Coming in at number one is Georgia’s Sanford Stadium. Georgia can accomodate 93,000 fans in the recently renovated stadium (with expanded concourses, new restrooms and concession areas, premium seating upgrades, and a new press box) but getting in is the trick. There are a few last available sets around $2,000 but most of them start at $2,700 going all the way up to
$5,300 a set for 50-yard line sets.
Season tickets in the upper deck of the South end zone will probably run you and the Missus $4000+ a year.
The median household income in the United States is $61,197…gross. And, in Alabama, it far lower: $52,095. Now, perhaps you are in a financial position where season tickets will not work a financial hardship. But most people do not have the luxury of tossing 5, 10% or more of their entire annual wealth on just seats.
Thinking about going a cheaper route, maybe catching an Alabama basketball game? Single tickets there are every bit as expensive as football now — and then some.
