Why are Apple Cup tickets so expensive? We examine
Why are Apple Cup tickets so expensive? We examine
Early ticket sales for the neutral-site rivalry game have caused sticker shock.
A subscriber messaged me last week. He’s a 2000 Washington graduate, and a Huskies season-ticket holder since 2005. Two years ago, he and his wife upgraded to seats in Club Husky, and they renewed for 2024. They’re regular away-game travelers, too. He made it to Michigan State and all three postseason games last season, and has plans to see Iowa and maybe even Rutgers this year.
Yet when he received a presale email from UW last week for Apple Cup tickets, he told me, “my jaw dropped.”
He wasn’t alone. When Washington State began its ticket sales for the Sept. 14 neutral-site game at Lumen Field earlier this month, sticker shock resonated across social media. The two fan bases aren’t aligned on much these days, but I saw similar reaction when UW reached out last week to its top 1,000 season-ticket accounts with an exclusive presale offer.
I reached out to officials at both schools to better understand the numbers.
The primary takeaway: working together with First & Goal Inc. and Lumen Field, officials from UW and WSU agreed that the game should be priced as similarly to last season’s Apple Cup as possible, though differences between the stadiums made it tricky.