Football ticket prices are going up at Texas. Along with the usual expectations.
It’s an understandable sign of the times.
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Athletic director Chris Del Conte delivered the news during his annual town hall address Wednesday. The 7% hike is good for the next three seasons and no one should be surprised because winning equals success and that success comes at a price. Want to complain? It’s fine to vent behind closed doors, but let’s keep it real here, Texas fan.
Texas athletic director Chris del Conte walks the sideline during the game against Vanderbilt at Darrell K Royal–Texas Memorial Stadium on Saturday, Nov. 1, 2025 in Austin.
Aaron E. Martinez/Austin American-Statesman
You have three choices: Invest in a larger flat screen. Become a regular at Scholz Garten this fall. Or, if you’re a true diehard, tighten up a belt loop or two, take your wife’s hand and say, “Honey, let’s not go to Hawaii this summer. A week in Port Aransas will do us just fine. We don’t want to miss out on a title run.”
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Besides, if you don’t re-up, someone will be there to take your place. Del Conte said the wait list for season tickets is at 11,000 and climbing, a subtle flex directed at anyone who would like to step aside and give up theirs.
It’s called supply and demand.
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Del Conte, with the blessing of UT System Board of Regents Chairman Kevin Eltife and UT President Jim Davis, is crafting a juggernaut and is deftly navigating the changing business model of college athletics. This is the transfer portal/NIL era and winning big comes at a cost.
Texas is undergoing an athletic boom
It’s no longer about just being the best recruiter — and Texas has elite recruiters in its sports — but about fit and allure that will attract 17-year-old boys and girls and talented transfers to campus. It’s why the swanky indoor practice facility is on schedule to open this summer with grass at Royal-Memorial Stadium a possibility in a couple of years. It’s why volleyball is getting a Mini Moody, a new arena to replace the venerable but outdated Gregory Gym. It’s why softball’s McCombs Field is up for renovation and expansion. It’s why UFCU Disch-Falk Field is modernizing its locker room and replacing its surface in a couple of years.
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And the big one: eventual housing for athletes similar to an Olympic Village, which is another enticement for the nation’s best to consider the 512. Del Conte didn’t provide any details. He didn’t have to say it will cost a ton of money to make it happen.
“We are going to make sure that we are always a destination for the top high school kids,” Del Conte said. “But we’re also going to have to sprinkle in portal kids along the way. Texas will always be high school heavy, but you’re going to have to have some experience in there.”
Texas Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian and Texas Longhorns quarterback Arch Manning (16) celebrate after winning the Red River Rivalry against the Oklahoma Sooners at the Cotton Bowl on Saturday Oct. 11, 2025 in Dallas, Texas.
Aaron E. Martinez/Austin American-Statesman
Football, of course, is the driving force. The Longhorns are box office and are on the short list of teams expected to compete for a national championship this fall. Quarterback Arch Manning will enter the season as a favorite to win the Heisman Trophy. He was a money player down the stretch and the perfect representative of where the program is trying to go, on and off the field. Head coach Steve Sarkisian is still seeking that breakthrough to the title game after losing twice in the CFP semis.
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As far as the bank is concerned, the greenbacks will continue to roll in and the Horns will spend it freely because the revenue stream that comes with being a major player in an elite football conference performing in front of 100,000-plus every home game is akin to soft-drink refills at Red Robin. Bottomless.
Don’t worry about Texas losing money
The Horns will receive only $12.1 million in a conference payout while the SEC is doling out $60 million more to 14 other schools per an agreement reached when Texas and Oklahoma left the Big 12 early for the 2024-25 football season. It was expected and the department budgeted accordingly, Del Conte said.
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The Horns, who lost $26.7 million during the 2025 fiscal year according to charts Del Conte shared, will recoup soon enough.
Football turned a $106.9 million profit and that number will increase next year with a full payout from the SEC that will be more than the $72 million the others just pocketed.
Increasing ticket prices isn’t personal, Longhorn Nation. It’s business. Football is the cash cow and the smart consumer understands why the cost of that burnt orange milk has gone up a bit. That includes the annual Red River Rivalry matchup with Oklahoma, where season ticket-holders will have to pony up $250 per Cotton Bowl seat. CDC explained the increase is due to the Horns adding a seventh home game with the SEC going to a long overdue nine-game conference schedule.
Texas Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian celebrates with his team after beating Texas A&M Aggies 27-17 during the first half of an NCAA college football game in the Lone Star Showdown in Austin, Texas, Friday, Nov. 28, 2025.
Ricardo B. Brazziell/Austin American-Statesman
As far as nonconference, Ohio State is coming in to conclude the home-and-home series on Sept 12 and the Horns will host Michigan in 2027. Those are prime matchups that come with a degree of risk when it comes to the team’s playoff hopes, but the impact generated when playing fellow football factories cannot be measured in just dollars (though the coffers will be bursting at the seams for those two games).
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“I had a lot of people say we need to cancel those games,” Del Conte said. “We’re going to honor our word. That’s what we do. As far as what our future schedules look like, we will sit down and look at what that looks like for getting into the postseason tournament.”
That could mean canceling a home-and-home with Notre Dame in 2028 and 2029, but I suspect those games will be played if the presidents and athletic directors can come to an agreement on expanding the CFP after next season. If the playoffs went to, say, 16 teams, it would make playing marquee opponents in nonconference less risky.
“We can play three creampuffs and then we can play an SEC schedule,” Del Conte said. “But if the playoff is going to expand — which I prefer the playoff expands — you want to then have great games, and value those great games as long as we have the opportunity to get into the postseason.”
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Don’t expect Texas to add new sports
During the Q&A session, Del Conte announced the annual Orange-White spring football game would be back April 18, but also was asked about adding women’s flag football and men’s lacrosse.
“No,” came the reply.
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It ain’t happening and not just because of having to keep the playing field level per Title IX requirements. Frankly, the Horns have enough sports on campus and with football being the only one that turned a profit last year ($106 million), the people who run these programs have to be more judicious in their financial decisions, especially in Texas’ case where Del Conte is fully funding 495 scholarship athletes at a cost of $30.5 million.
For the Horns to keep up with the other blue bloods, football has to be the vehicle and the best teams will be the ones who bring in the best talent on the field and on the sideline. To hang with the big boys, the consumer must play a pivotal role.
That means the fan base will have to dig deep from the big-money donors to the regular Joe.
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“Hey Honey, I was thinking about that Port Aransas trip and came up with a better idea. How do you feel about a staycation?”