Marketing the Marriott Center and LaVell Edwards Stadium is a lot like filling up an airplane. Seats are limited, so when interest is high, the prices spike, and when it's low, they drop. In addition, the more a person wants to pay, the better seat they can get.
The global economy runs on supply and demand, and when it comes to football and basketball, so does BYU. With interest high and rising in both sports, so are the fees. Just as Kalani Sitake and Kevin Young are working to do more with their teams, the athletic department is looking for ways to make the experience as rewarding and entertaining as possible.
BYU reworked LaVell Edwards Stadium when the Cougars joined the Big 12. Prices jumped and seating was reconfigured based on donation levels. To some fans, the changes were tough to take. What had been their lifelong seating locations, through good times and bad, were awarded to someone else with a deeper pocket.
The athletic department did its best to accommodate, but the tsunami for tickets and the need to compete limited their options. The demand overwhelmed the supply. As a result, those who wanted to pay more received more, even at the expense of some loyalists, who were priced out.
BYU fans paid more for football tickets last year than any time in program history. The crowd of 62,849 (average) withstood late start times and weathered cold nights, but it's what they experienced that has them coming back again this year — no matter the cost.
BYU's Parker Kingston celebrates after returning a punt for a touchdown against Kansas State on Sept. 21, 2024. | Jaren Wilkey/BYU PHOTO
Watching Parker Kingston's remarkable punt return for a TD during the Cougars' dismantling of No. 13 Kansas State and seeing Darius Lassiter beat Oklahoma State with a last-second touchdown catch to remain undefeated produced moments money can't buy and feelings television can't replicate.
When you throw in the fireworks, fire dancers, drones, the band, the ROC and Cosmo, the pageantry is almost, well, priceless.
The growing costs of fandom with a contending team in the Big 12 are not to be casually discounted, and for some, it has become too much. They have swapped decades of hard-bench seat-time inside LES for a soft spot on the couch at home.
After a Sweet 16 run during Young's first season at BYU, the Marriott Center is beginning its reseating plan this month with the same goal in mind — accommodate as many as possible while making enough money to enhance the experience.
This is another case where the demand simply demands it. The roster Young and his staff have constructed and the preseason hype the program is generating has created another no-brainer revenue stream that is too enticing to pass up.
The move will include some disappointments, even resentments, as some might rightly contend. How much is needed to be competitive?
An old-school mind runs counter to paying players, late start times and television revenue being at the heartbeat of everything, including the expansion of the College Football Playoff and the NCAA Tournament.
Not all the changes are comfortable, and some may not seem fair, especially to the fan who, like a pioneer, helped build the program from the ground up — when a $1,000 Cougar Club donation was a big deal.
However, the glory years of the past, which BYU made the most of — winning a national championship and a Heisman Trophy — didn't guarantee the future. To survive and thrive, as a program and as a missionary tool, the Cougars needed Big 12 membership and access to the television, scheduling and postseason it provides.
In 2023, BYU made the choice to be a national player by joining a power conference and asking its fan base to help keep the Cougars there by investing more. With a few different decisions, the Cougars could still be hosting Idaho State instead of Utah in October or staging a December basketball game at Pacific instead of Madison Square Garden.
Progress presents both opportunities and obstacles — it is tremendous on the one hand and yet challenging on the other. Appeasing both is nearly impossible and that is where BYU is when it comes to its two giant revenue-generating sports.
BYU is still adjusting to the big time with big TV money, a big gate and big expenses (staff salaries, facility upgrades, operation costs, etc.).
The Cougars' NIL reservoir is deep enough to accommodate the bigger boats ( AJ Dybantsa ), but the revenue stream is treated like Utah's water supply. No matter how much mountain snow there is, someone is always worried about needing more. Likewise with athletics, there is an ever-present fear that the moment progress stops, it starts to digress — and that is a risk BYU can't afford to take.
Will there ever come a day when an athletic department declares, "We have enough money and don't need anymore?" Not likely. The idea would improve public relations, but in a business sense, it doesn't make cents . The thirst for more is unquenchable, as American Airlines showed in 2008.
Feeling desperate to compete with the other carriers, American started charging $15 for checked bags. Passengers didn't like it, but the demand for travel outweighed the extra fees. After watching the successful experiment, other airlines followed suit. In 2023, baggage revenue for the major global carriers exceeded $33 billion.
As for American, the company reported a record $54.2 billion in total revenue last year. Enough to drop the bag fees and cut passengers a break? No chance. Today, the company charges $40 for the first checked bag and $45 for the second and passengers keep paying. It's safe to assume that baggage fees are here to stay.
Where to draw the money line for college athletics is a question without any obvious answer. Time will reveal more about what worked and what didn't. The Cougars are in the process of figuring that out. But right now, demand exceeds the supply and ticket access to BYU football and basketball games reflect it. As long as the Cougars keep winning, price increases will likely continue.
Paying more will always be an emotional issue, but an even bigger challenge would be having a product no one wants to pay to see. The BYU football and basketball programs both finished ranked No. 13 last year, with high projections for their seasons ahead.
Higher ticket prices can be painful, but it's what comes from success and being relevant on the national stage — a place where BYU is now firmly anchored.
BYU fans cheer as BYU and Kansas play at LaVell Edwards Stadium in Provo on Saturday Nov. 16, 2024. | Scott G Winterton, Deseret News
Dave McCann is a sportswriter and columnist for the Deseret News and is a play-by-play announcer and show host for BYUtv/ESPN+. He co-hosts "Y's Guys" at ysguys.com and is the author of the children's book "C is for Cougar," available at deseretbook.com
