UVA Football made a Top 10 list, not one that you’d want to make, necessarily, but you take what you can get.
I frame it that way because this Top 10 list is actually a sort of Bottom 10 at the same time.
A website that goes by Bookies.com sent out an email today, the kind that I don’t normally write about, except that this one had a ranking of the lowest average ticket prices in the Power 4, plus Notre Dame and the two Pac-12 schools that are still looking for a new conference to play in.
That’s 70 schools in total. The average price for the lowest available ticket for each home on the UVA Football home schedule, based on pricing from SeatGeek, for the 2024 season is $19.50, ranking 64th among the 70 programs surveyed.
Which is to say, UVA was fourth in the Bottom 10 of ticket prices, or to put a positive spin on it, like the PR folks like to try to do, seventh in the Top 10 most affordable place to go see a major-college football game.
See what I did there?
The ACC has five of the 10 on this list – Boston College (cheapest average ticket: $8.57 per game), Louisville ($11.57 per game), Wake Forest ($19.43 per game) and Syracuse ($19.86 per game) joining Virginia.
Of those, only Louisville had a decent season in 2023, finishing 10-4.
BC and Syracuse both played in 6-6 bowls, and UVA and Wake brought up the rear of the conference.
Generally speaking, you made this list because your program is in the tank, and there are plenty of good seats still available on the Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays in your stadium.
I’m still trying to figure out the Louisville angle here. The Cardinals are coming off a strong 2023, and were picked fifth in the preseason ACC Football rankings last month.