As the onset of BYU\u2019s 2025 football season approaches, the hottest sports ticket in Utah is \u2026 what\u2019s this, a decent seat in the Marriott Center for Cougar men\u2019s basketball games?<\/p>\n
Somewhere Kresimir Cosic<\/a> is grinning.<\/p>\n BYU basketball<\/a> is all the rage these days, and the season is still more than two months away. The Cougars\u2019 first home game doesn\u2019t arrive until the second week of November. And yet, season tickets for games in that rather spacious building have sold out. Getting a preferred seat, ironically enough, could\u2019ve emptied a family\u2019s future college fund for their kids.<\/p>\n But, as Bear Bryant so famously said all those years ago, \u201cIt\u2019s kinda hard to rally around a math class.\u201d<\/p>\n The only thing hard about rallying around BYU hoops in the season\u2019s run-up is that cash required to land those season tickets.<\/p>\n Expectations for the season directly ahead are \u2014 What the dickens? \u2014 great, maybe even stupidly excessive. That\u2019s what happens when some so-called experts predict that the Cougars are bound for the Final Four.<\/p>\n This chase for seats isn\u2019t a wholly new phenomenon at Brigham Kevin Young <\/a>University. The Cougars made the Sweet Sixteen last year<\/a>, with the addition of NBA talent suggesting more now.<\/p>\n The upward swing commenced even before Young left the Phoenix Suns bench to come to Provo, back before the Cougars\u2019 first season in the Big 12, when, not unlike the football situation at LaVell Edwards Stadium, seats long held by certain BYU fans were shifted around, here, there, everywhere. And fans who donated more green happened to be more likely to find themselves entitled in the Marriott Center to not just enjoy the privilege of slapping down even more green on the barrel, but to end up with the gift of advantageous seats from which the action on the court could actually be observed without the use of Nikon 10X25 Trailblazer ATB binoculars.<\/p>\n Fans who wanted basketball season tickets back in 2023, no matter where they\u2019d been sitting for games in the past or whether they\u2019d sat there at all, were asked to increase their donations in order to increase their chances of getting \u201cpriority points\u201d that then would be totaled up and, in theory, could lead to better seats. With a few exceptions for \u201cfacility donors,\u201d who were promised seats for themselves and two generations beyond by way of their donations bequeathed years ago, it was like asking loyalists to pay their however many thousands of dollars, don a blindfold and chase a chicken \u2014 \u201cGet the chicken, Rocky! Get the chicken!\u201d \u2014 that was clucking around out in the yard somewhere, and hope for the best. There were no guarantees.<\/p>\n (John Leyba | AP) BYU head coach Kevin Young, top right, celebrates as time runs out in the second half against Wisconsin in the second round of the NCAA college basketball tournament Saturday, March 22, 2025, in Denver.<\/p>\n Cougar Club members are \u201cranked\u201d on a shifting scale from Legacy 1 to Legacy 6, based on the amount of money they contribute, and are given preferred seating, in part, according to those designations. Legacy 1 members donate a one-time gift of $10,000, Legacy 2 give $25,000, Legacy 3 offer $50,000, Legacy 4 pay out $100,000, Legacy 5 cough up $250,000, Legacy 6 dump in $500,000. Beyond that is what\u2019s known as the AD Circle, a select group each of whom donates $1 million. Where much is given, much is expected, namely, the right to buy more, better season tickets.<\/p>\n To maintain that status and those standings, fans must donate additional annual cash, not unlike country club fees. And none of that includes the price for the tickets themselves, which runs into the thousands.<\/p>\n One booster told me, \u201cThey\u2019re swimming in cash down here.\u201d<\/p>\n On BYU\u2019s sports website, it lists BYU basketball tickets available for various amounts of money, but for ultra-premium seats on the floor, it cryptically reads: \u201cCall Cougar Club.\u201d It\u2019s the hoops equivalent of ordering lobster off the menu at a three-star restaurant and seeing: \u201cmarket price.\u201d<\/p>\n If you have to ask, you can\u2019t afford it.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a fact of life in modern major college sports that, even \u2014 especially? \u2014 at BYU, some true-blue Cougar fans have been priced out, and remain priced out. The school\u2019s explanation: To stay competitive, money to athletes must be paid, with NIL money stacked in addition to that. Casualties are those who have loved and still love BYU sports, but can\u2019t scratch up what\u2019s necessary to buy worthwhile tickets to the games. Conversely, some fans \u2014 those with deep pockets \u2014 are, as one eager fan puts it, \u201cwilling to pay whatever helps BYU have great teams. I\u2019m OK with what it costs.\u201d<\/p>\n That fan, a corporate executive, paid $50 grand previously and then $50 grand more prior to this season to become a Legacy 4 Cougar Clubber. Last season, he had six season tickets on Row 22 at the Marriott, near mid-court. Although he paid the extra $50 large this time around, his seats were shifted from mid-court to the corner on the same row. Which is to say, he paid the extra $50,000 for the chance to land worse seats.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a matter of small and large, of supply and demand.<\/p>\n On top of that, he paid $1,225 for each of his six season tickets. Not bad, really, if it stood alone. As mentioned, it does not. Moreover, last season, games BYU played at the Delta Center were included in the package. This year, those pre-league games \u2014 against North Carolina, Wisconsin, Cal Baptist \u2014 are not included.<\/p>\n On BYU\u2019s site, there\u2019s an FAQ section that asks a specific question and answers it with three bullet points: \u201cWhy is BYU basketball re-seating?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe re-seating process allows us to:<\/p>\n \u2014 ensure our most committed supporters have access to priority seating<\/p>\n \u2014 continue providing critical resources to fuel our momentum on and off the court<\/p>\n \u2014 offer a transparent and fair selection experience for all Cougar fans.\u201d<\/p>\n Translation:<\/p>\n \u2014 nobody said life is fair, even if you\u2019re a lifelong Latter-day Saint, say your daily prayers, sing Rise and Shout to lull yourself to sleep every night and pay your annual tithing, it doesn\u2019t matter because our richest fans who give us the most get the best seats, comprende?<\/p>\n \u2014 we need the money to pay our coaches and players zillions of dollars<\/p>\n \u2014 love you, dawg, but it\u2019s not our problem if you\u2019re priced out.<\/p>\n Bottom line here is this cruel bit of capitalism: Weeks ago, BYU sold its entire allotment of basketball season tickets. It had more demand for season tickets than it had season tickets to sell.<\/p>\n (BYU does deserve credit for dedicating to its student section \u2014 the ROC \u2014 more than 6,000 seats for home games at a discounted price of around $200. A smart move considering the pro-BYU noise and mayhem those students create.)<\/p>\n (Tyler Tate | AP) Anicet “AJ” Dybantsa Jr., the number one player in the 2025 class and BYU commit, stands with the fans during the second half of an NCAA basketball game between BYU and West Virginia Saturday, March 1, 2025, in Provo, Utah.<\/p>\n