Colorado’s trip to Arizona State is drawing the kind of price tag that usually comes with a much hotter team than a 3-5 one.
Saturday’s Big 12 matchup in Tempe has become the most expensive home ticket on the Sun Devils’ schedule, with the resale market climbing since September. Vivid Seats listed the cheapest ticket at $89 in its latest Wednesday update, fees included, up from a $79 starting point in late September.
Earlier Wednesday checks had SeatGeek at $92 and TickPick at $88, with TickPick not adding fees at checkout. In that earlier Vivid Seats snapshot, only three percent of inventory remained.
That’s a strong signal for a road team carrying a losing record. Kickoff is set for 5:30 p.m. MT at Mountain America Stadium, which holds more than 50,000 fans, and the advertised get-in prices are coming from different marketplaces, so the full checkout total still matters.
Even so, Colorado’s number stands out against the rest of Arizona State’s home slate. Vivid Seats had the Sun Devils’ other home games this fall at $26 against Hawaii, $33 against Baylor and $40 against Kansas State. The Nov. 21 visit from Oklahoma State starts at $33.
Colorado’s cheapest ticket is more than double every one of those prices. TickPick listed 2,815 tickets available with an average price of $232.52, which means the typical buyer is paying far more than the lowest entry point.
That’s the Sanders effect in action. Colorado has dropped plenty of games since he arrived, but opposing fans still seem willing to pay up to watch him come out of the tunnel.
The odd part is that this Colorado game is even pricier than Arizona State’s own Territorial Cup trip to Arizona on Nov. 28, which starts at $48 on TickPick.
There’s still one number from the past that towers over all of this. Before Colorado’s 2023 visit, the primary-market get-in price hit $165 on the Wednesday before kickoff, the highest on Arizona State’s home schedule that season, and the game sold out. Colorado then pulled out a 27-24 win, giving Sun Devils fans another reason to fill the building this time around.
That old figure came from the box office, while this week’s prices are from the resale market. Even so, the cheapest seat now is about half of that 2023 number, a sign that the novelty has eased without the demand disappearing.
The stakes are real for both sides. Colorado needs three wins in its final four games to become bowl eligible, while Arizona State, sitting at 4-4, needs two.
A Saturday night in the desert in November helps, too, which goes a long way toward explaining why this game has stayed near the bottom of Vivid Seats’ inventory for more than a week.
Arizona State coach Kenny Dillingham understood the value of a full house before that 2023 meeting.
“It’s a competitive advantage to have the whole crowd there,” Dillingham said.
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