The return of the rival Texas A&M and University of Texas football teams to the gridiron for the first time in over a decade has fans lining up, and opening their wallets, to attend what has become the most expensive college football game on record—by a long shot.
Texas quarterback Case McCoy, 6, breaks away from Texas A&M defensive back Terrence Frederick, 7, at ... [+]
Tickets to see the Aggies and Longhorns play for the first time in 13 years are, on average, $1,072 per seat, according to online marketplace TickPick, the most expensive college football game ever and more expensive than any regular season NFL game in history.
The tickets are far and away pricer than the previous college football record holder: The 2023 Michigan-Ohio State matchup, another legendary rivalry, had an average ticket price of $763, according to TickPick.
The cheapest ticket for Saturday’s game at A&M’s Kyle Field, with fees, is currently listed for $743 on Seat Geek and $742 on TickPick—160% higher than the “get-in price” of the Michigan-Ohio State game scheduled for the same day.
The most expensive tickets, with fees, are more than $5,000 each.
Get Forbes Breaking News Text Alerts: We’re launching text message alerts so you'll always know the biggest stories shaping the day’s headlines. Text “Alerts” to (201) 335-0739 or sign up here: joinsubtext.com/forbes.
Kickoff for the game between the No. 3 Texas Longhorns and No. 15 Texas A&M Aggies is set for 7:30 p.m. EST. The game will be shown on ABC.
The Longhorn and Aggies played each other for the first time in 1894 and the rivalry played out every year from 1915 to 2011, when A&M left the Big 12 Conference to join the Southeastern Conference. The teams haven't played since, but Texas joined the SEC this summer, resuming the so-called Lone Star Showdown. And though it isn’t happening exactly on the holiday, the Texas A&M-UT matchup is a return to Thanksgiving tradition. Of the 118 times the teams have played each other in their histories, 64 of them were Thanksgiving Day games.
Texas A&M, which is hosting the game, has planned an entire weekend of activities focused solely on the showdown. A "Ruck Across the Brazos," which will see people from both schools transport a single football from Austin to Kyle Field in College Station, Texas, including across the Brazos River, will start Friday. A "yell practice"—A&M doesn't have a cheerleading team, and instead a team of "Yell Leaders" teach students chants the night before home games—will be moved from the traditional start time of midnight to 5:30 p.m. Friday and a concert with Pat Green and the Randy Rodgers Band, both Texas staples, starts at 8 p.m. the night before the game. There will be a BBQ cook-off at Kyle Field before kick-off and a pre-game parade will include the Texas A&M Corps of Cadets, Parsons Mounted Cavalry and the school mascot, Reveille, a rough collie.
- That’s how many times the Longhorns have beat the Aggies in the rivalry’s history. The all-time series record belongs to the University of Texas: 76-37-5.