The price of success? UGA ticket costs going up for 2018 home football games

The University of Georgia’s athletics board voted Tuesday to raise single-game football ticket prices, beginning next season.

Single-game tickets, which cost $50 per ticket last season, will be divided into two tiers. For home games against Power 5 conference teams, tickets will cost $75 per ticket for season ticket holders. Tickets will cost $55 for games against non-Power 5 opponents. Student tickets will increase by $2 to $10 per game.

“We have to be prepared to fund our football program and Olympic sports,” university President Jere Morehead said. “This is the byproduct of success.”

Last season, Georgia had the third-lowest ticket prices in the SEC. LSU, at an average of $70.83 per ticket last season, had the highest average ticket cost in the conference. Ohio State’s average ticket cost $99.28.

Athletic Director Greg McGarity said the increase was necessary as Georgia gives raises to its football coaches and tries to maintain a “competitive” athletic program. The decision comes after a season in which the Bulldogs won an SEC title and lost the national championship to Alabama — the school's first appearance in the college football national championship game since 1981.

Georgia brought in $22.6 million in football ticket revenue as of December 2017, according to the Athletic Association Treasurer’s Report. Georgia made $19.1 million from football tickets in 2016.

“Football’s our main stream of revenue,” McGarity said.

Georgia's home schedule next season is fairly mundane. The Bulldogs play the University of Massachusetts, Austin Peay and Middle Tennessee. Tickets to those games will cost $55, for example. Georgia also plays Vanderbilt, Tennessee, Georgia Tech and Auburn.

Notre Dame and Texas A&M come to Sanford Stadium in 2019., though. Additionally, the athletic board approved $1 million for three projects related to Georgia's athletic facilities:

• $700,000 for a new video board inside Gabrielsen Natatorium. Installation would begin after this season;
  
  
• $200,000 for a design fee for the Equestrian Complex;
  
  
• $100,000 for a “feasibility study” for a possible new Indoor Tennis Complex, which would hold six courts. The current indoor complex has four.

Also announced Tuesday: The $63 million renovation to Sanford Stadium's west end zone remains on track for completion before the 2018 season.

This story was originally published January 30, 2018 at 6:02 PM with the headline "The price of success? UGA ticket costs going up for 2018 home football games."