The pageantry of college football on fall Saturdays is unmatched in American sports. There is fun to be had to start the day, with traditions of tailgating and bands playing hours before kickoff. 

If you want to get into the stadium and join the crowd in cheering on the home team, that’ll cost you. But the costs, depending on your school, vary dramatically. 

Bookies.com calculated the cost of the cheapest available ticket for every home game of all 70 Power 5 conference teams, including Notre Dame, Washington State, and Oregon State. Prices were acquired from Ticketmaster and SeatGeek, which more than 100 schools use. 

Games at neutral sites were excluded. Games moved nearby due to renovations for Northwestern (Wrigley Field) and Kansas (Arrowhead Stadium and Children’s Mercy Park) were included. 

Cost of Attending

The most expensive team in the nation to catch home games isn’t Georgia, or Alabama, or Ohio State or Michigan, or even Notre Dame. 

It’s Colorado. The hype was real when the Buffaloes hired Deion Sanders to lead a program out of the basement of college football. With the hype came an exorbitant price hike. 

The cheapest ticket for Colorado home games averaged out to $172.83. The cheapest singular game was the season opener against North Dakota State – at $112. That was, by far, the priciest “cheapest” game for any college program. That’s a steep price to pay for a team that went 1-8 in the Pac-12 in 2023 before shifting back to the Big 12. 

Tennessee (average cost per ticket of $156.43), Texas A&M ($140.43), and Florida State ($140.14) were next in line. 

A massive $557 for the cheapest seats for a single game is for a season-ending showdown between SEC newcomer Texas and rival Texas A&M at College Station on Nov. 30. That is easily the priciest game of the n2024 college football season, followed by Michigan at Ohio State on Nov. 30 ($391), Alabama at Tennessee on Oct. 19 ($321) and Cincinnati at Colorado on Oct. 26 ($321). 

On the flip side, you can get into a Boston College home game for an average of $8.57 per week. Illinois was nearly as affordable, at $9.57. 

ACC

Florida State’s average of $140.14 was crazy-high for this conference, and over three times more expensive than getting into Clemson to watch the powerhouse Tigers ($48.86). Only Virginia Tech ($83.50) came remotely close to asking what the Seminoles are getting in Tallahassee.

FSU hosts both Clemson and Florida this year – each of those games costs over $200 to get into the door – raising its overall average. 

Five programs averaged out to under $20 per ticket in the ACC: Syracuse, Virginia, Wake Forest, Louisville, and Boston College. 

Big Ten

National champion Michigan and perennial powerhouse Ohio State ranked first and third, respectively, in Big Ten ticket prices, each at over $100 per docket per game. Sandwiched between them is Northwestern, which has higher costs in part because it’s a top destination for opposing fans and it’s playing two games at historic Wrigley Field, adding to the fun factor. 

Three programs new to the Big Ten this year – Oregon, UCLA, and USC – ranked fourth, fifth, and sixth. 

Illinois’ $9.57 average is nearly three times cheaper than any other program, though four other schools – Maryland, Rutgers, Purdue, and Indiana – can get you in the door for under $30 each. Purdue’s average would have been $11.40 had it not been for a Sept. 14 home game against Notre Dame ($105 minimum). 

Big 12

Colorado’s re-entry into its old conference pushes the Buffaloes firmly into the priciest spot in the league, nearly $80 higher than any other team's average. 

Oklahoma State, Utah, Kansas State, and Kansas, however, all came out to between $88 and $99. The Jayhawks were boosted by games at the Chiefs’ Arrowhead Park (the cheapest seats for games against Lindenwood and UNLV are going for well over $100). 

Aside from Colorado and Utah, most of the other Big 12 newcomers are driving tickets down. Arizona State, Houston, and Arizona were the three cheapest spots to catch a game. 

SEC

Tennessee, Texas A&M, and Georgia ranked among the five priciest spots in the nation to catch college football live. Alabama was fourth, but nearly $30 below the Bulldogs, $40 below the Aggies, and $60 behind the Vols. 

All but one program costs at least $40 per ticket for the cheapest seats. You can get into a Mississippi State home game for an average of just $12.57. 

Vanderbilt had two games in which the lowest cost was a single dollar, but the average was pushed up hosting Alabama, Texas, and Tennessee, each at $90 or higher. 

Other

Pac-12 teams Oregon State and Washington State can be seen live for a reasonable price, with the Beavers’ average of $39.14 driven up by the $147 minimum when they host rival Oregon. 

Notre Dame’s cheapest seats range from $35 for Miami (Ohio) to $217 for Florida State.