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The Price of Hope: Analyzing the Cost of UNC Football Season Tickets (2021–2026)

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UNC football was absolutely awful last year, which is making the high season ticket renewal price tough to swallow.

When UNC hired Belichick just before the 2025 season, the season ticket price spiked by 69%, from $275 in 2024 to $465 in 2025, despite 2025 having one less home game than the prior season. On one hand I get it… UNC’s got some big “Bills” to pay between paying the players, coaches, and ongoing facility improvements. But the bigger budget clearly didn’t lead to more wins, with UNC finishing 4-8, their worst finish since 2018.

Despite last year’s disappointment, the university set the 2026 season ticket price at $470, a $5 increase from the huge spike in the prior year. Are UNC fans going to pay the price to give the team another chance? The optimist in me says this could be the year to watch a historic turnaround in person. The Heels will likely have four ranked opponents on their schedule (TCU, Notre Dame, Miami, and Louisville), with three of those matchups being played at home. I’d be kicking myself if UNC won all (or even just one) of those games and I wasn’t there.

I think we’ll find out pretty quick if this will be UNC’s year when UNC faces off against TCU in Ireland on August 29th. By the way, traveling to that game in Dublin is going to be a very tough sell for Heels fans after TCU spanked UNC 48-14 last season.

Season Ticket Prices are up 124% over the past five years; blame Belichick and the NIL era

And fans are getting less bang for their buck… UNC only won two home games last year, so the price per win was effectively $232.50.

However, UNC will host three ranked opponents this year (Notre Dame, Miami, and Louisville), so blind hope may help to sell the high ticket price

Looking Ahead…

Higher ticket prices are likely here to stay following the beginning of the NIL era in 2021. The reality is that we’re not just paying for a college football game anymore, we’re paying for the talent and infrastructure of a professional sports program. Most “Power Four” schools are budgeting $20M+ to pay the players. Notably, Tennessee already added an explicit 10% “talent fee” on top of their season ticket price to help cover their roster’s payroll. While UNC hasn’t added an explicit “talent fee”, the 124% jump in ticket prices over the past five years tells a similar story. In this modern-day arms race, hope isn’t just a feeling— it’s a line item on the university’s budget, and it’s coming out of the fans’ pockets.

Axis of Evil: The Starting Lineup

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Part One of a Collaborative Series with Zach Routh

The Axis of Evil is a list of all things that stand in the way of what we as Americans hold dear. In 2002, George Bush (played by Will Ferrell on SNL) updated the Axis of Evil to include Enron, the economy, math, and Evil Kenevil (but that one’s a no brainer).

It’s 2018 now and the Axis of Evil needed updating. You can think of it like a basketball game and all the worst players are on one team called the “Axis of Evil”. And here’s their starting lineup:

Water Chestnuts

Want to ruin a meal? Stick a few water chestnuts in it.

Duke Power

Duke Power sucks. Their customer service sucks. Their website is a dumpster fire. They hate the environment. They get away with murder. They’re a bunch of mouth breathers.

When pizza burns the top of your mouth

Is it worth it? Probably. Should I be more patient and let it cool? Probably.

The NCAA

I love college sports, I hate the NCAA. They can’t make or enforce rules with any sort of rationality. As a “non-profit”, they steal billions of dollars from student-athletes and are rarely accountable for any sort of wrongdoing. Boo Mark Emmert, Boo.

Mayonnaise

Only psychopaths order extra mayo. **Some exceptions made for Chipotle Mayo and well-made chicken salad, pimento cheese, etc.**

The phrase “Same Difference”

If you replace the phrase “same thing” with the phrase “same difference” you are the worst. It doesn’t make any sense and in the end you’re likening two things instead of differentiating them. STOP THIS MADNESS.

Bread Ends Sandwich

This is the worst thing since sliced bread. Bread ends sandwich? That’s a no for me dawg.

When you bend down and your water bottle falls out of your backpack

And as soon as you bend down to pick up the water bottle something else falls, creating an endless cycle. The struggle is real folks.

Headphones jerking out of your ears

This mostly happens when I’m on a treadmill, causing alarm and overall disorientation. The bluetooth headphones almost sell themselves.