StubHub college football preview: Ticket sales up 50% from 2022

Third party ticket exchange StubHub released its college football preview for the 2023 season. According to a statement from StubHub’s Adam Budelli, preseason ticket sales are up almost 50% compared to the 2022 season.

“We’re seeing the most preseason sales of the past five years — Colorado leads the charge with the biggest jump in sales,” Budelli said. “This is likely to be the last season of college football as we know it, with conferences realigning at a rapid pace and playoff expansion on the horizon. We predict that ticket sales will start to reflect changes in how fans travel, create new rivalries and spotlight more teams across the country.”

StubHub’s college football preview includes the most in-demand teams and games of the 2023 season. The most in-demand teams include:

1. Alabama Crimson Tide
2. Michigan Wolverines
3. Notre Dame Fighting Irish
4. Penn State Nittany Lions
5. Tennessee Volunteers
6. Georgia Bulldogs
7. Auburn Tigers
8. Florida State Seminoles
9. Texas A&M Aggies
10. Colorado Buffaloes

Perhaps the most surprising entry on that list is Colorado. After finishing 1-11 in 2022, the Buffaloes made a splash by hiring NFL Hall of Famer Deion Sanders as head coach. Sanders promptly brought in the top transfer class in the country over the offseason.

“It’s hard to talk about the upcoming season without talking about the huge changes happening at Colorado under Deion Sanders,” Budelli said. “The Buffs drive the biggest sales increase from last season as fans place faith in this new team — ticket sales have increased 15 times over.”

The lists of the most in-demand teams and games in StubHub’s college football preview were dominated by the Big Ten and SEC. Both conferences are adding teams starting in 2024 in a race for college football supremacy.

“The SEC continues to dominate as a conference, outselling the Big Ten teams by 45%,” Budelli said. “The Tide lead the charge by opening up the season leading ticket sales, hosting three of the season’s most in-demand games, and commanding sales on the road, but it’s Michigan that boasts the most amount of tickets sold given they house the largest stadium in college football.”