COLUMBIA, Mo. 鈥 Season ticket sales for Missouri football have crossed the 40,000 threshold for the first time in nearly a decade, an indication of the momentum surrounding the football program on the doorstep of the 2024 college football season.
MU has issued 40,346 season tickets for the 2024 campaign, according to sales figures obtained by the Post-Dispatch through an open records request. The school has sold out of season tickets, with only single-game options still on the market.
That鈥檚 the most since the 2015 season, when 42,376 season tickets were sold. The program鈥檚 modern record for season ticket sales remains 2012, its first year in the Southeastern Conference, with more than 45,000 鈥 though Memorial Stadium鈥檚 capacity was larger then than it is now.
Of this year鈥檚 season ticket drive, 12,000 were purchased by students while 28,346 went to the general public. Student sales remained in the five-figure range for the second consecutive season and have more than doubled since 2022.
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That season marked the bottom of an attendance lull for Missouri. There were only 23,660 season tickets issued in 2022, with 5,071 of those going to students.
The 2023 season brought a notable uptick in season ticket sales, rising to 35,006 and 10,511 going to students. Former athletics director Desiree Reed-Francois had made a concerted effort to draw more students to Memorial Stadium ahead of last season.
Student sports passes have also sold out for this season, according to the athletics department.
The stadium holds approximately 61,620 people, so this year, nearly two-thirds of the stands will be filled with season-ticket holders.
The remaining third allotted for single-game sales has already been exhausted for Mizzou鈥檚 homecoming game against Auburn on Oct. 19 and a Big 12 reunion with Oklahoma on Nov. 9. Tickets for other home games are limited, the athletics department said.
Dating back to the end of the 2023 season, the Tigers have sold out five consecutive home games, a streak unseen in Columbia since 1980.
Speaking from the news conference podium at the end of MU鈥檚 preseason camp on Tuesday, coach Eli Drinkwitz urged fans to buy tickets for the Thursday, Aug. 29, season opener against Murray State to keep the sellout streak going.
鈥淥ur challenge is we need to sell out this first game,鈥 Drinkwitz said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e a top 11 program in the country coming off a Cotton Bowl win. In my opinion, if we don鈥檛 sell out the first game, then that shows me that we鈥檙e not where we want to be as a fan base yet. I mean, that鈥檚 just the reality of it. Don鈥檛 sit on the sideline and wait: 鈥業t鈥檚 got to be this game.鈥 No, it doesn鈥檛. Come watch this team and be excited about this team and embrace this team.
鈥淭he same challenge that I have for our players is: Let鈥檚 have a 1-0 mindset,鈥 he continued. 鈥淟et鈥檚 try to be a 1-0 team and be a 1-0 fan base. Don鈥檛 get excited about the game in November after the bye week (Oklahoma on Nov. 9). I don鈥檛 know what that game鈥檚 going look like. I know next week versus Murray State鈥檚 the most important game we have. We need to sell it out because we need to show the rest of the country that we鈥檙e serious about our program.鈥
鈥淟et鈥檚 eliminate all the noise about what the past history of the fan base has been,鈥 Drinkwitz concluded. 鈥淟et鈥檚 establish what our identity moving forward is going to be. The establishment of the identity moving forward is: It doesn鈥檛 matter if it鈥檚 Thursday night, Monday night or Saturday night 鈥 if we鈥檙e playing at Faurot Field, we鈥檙e selling it out.鈥