Austin, Texas – The University of Texas men’s basketball season at the brand new Moody Center starts in about a week, but some alumni aren’t happy with the ticketing process and are worried they won’t be able to see the game.
One alum said the Moody Center isn’t as easy to get a ticket as it is at the Erwin, nor is it as cheap.
Alex Friedman graduated from the University of Texas at Austin in 2016. He said he went to almost every men’s basketball game at the Erwin Center as a student.
“When we were students, we even camped outside the stadium for one of our biggest games, so I basically did whatever it took to make it to as many games as a student,” Friedman said.
Friedman now lives in New York but wanted to make it to a few more games this season, so he called the box office. He was told that in order to get tickets to this year’s UT men’s basketball games he must be a season ticket holder, and if he wants to get a single-game ticket he must purchase it from StubHub.
“I went through it and looked at all the games in the Big 12 conference and the average price for a solo ticket after the hub freeze is over $100. That’s a ticket to a game, which just seems unreasonable,” Friedman said.
In years past, SeatGeek was reporting much lower average costs, so Friedman reached out to the athletics director via Twitter.
“He let me know that this season they’re only giving out tickets to season ticket holders, and they’re doing it to maximize the atmosphere,” Friedman said.
The Moody Center will seat more than 15,000 but will be converted to a 10,000-seat venue for basketball games. The Moody Center’s website says it’s designed to give Longhorn fans and students a chance to feel a part of the game.
“I believe that the sports department has many tasks. I think part of that is making sure there’s a great atmosphere at all the games and all the fans are enjoying it, but I also think there’s a responsibility to making sure as many alumni as possible can enjoy those teams and cheer them on all they want,” Friedman said.
Friedman offered a solution.
“Remove some of those covers of the seats and maybe open a few sections at a time. If they’re sold out, open more, if not, cut back,” Friedman said.
A representative from the athletics department said season tickets have not sold out and are still available. Friedman said that might not be an option for him.
“In the current situation it doesn’t seem feasible to pay for single game tickets, it doesn’t seem feasible to pay for season tickets so I don’t know how I’m going to watch my team play,” Friedman said.
The first UT men’s basketball event at the Moody Center is a charity exhibition next Saturday against Arkansas. After last look there are only 59 tickets left on StubHub.
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