Copyright San Diego Union-Tribune
San Diego County Supervisor Jim Desmond sent a letter to the San Diego State athletic department on Wednesday expressing concerns over ticket prices for SDSU football games. In his letter, Desmond offered to work with SDSU leadership “to explore creative ways to make SDSU football more accessible for San Diegans.” The supervisor’s letter came after SDSU (7-1, 4-0 Mountain West) defeated Wyoming 24-7 last week and became the only remaining unbeaten team in conference play. Desmond opened his letter by complimenting the team, staff and department on its football success this season before writing that he shares “a growing concern I’ve heard from residents across San Diego County: the high cost of attending SDSU football games at Snapdragon Stadium.” The victory was the sixth straight for the Aztecs, though it came before an announced crowd of 24,325 (17,109 turnstile) at 32,500-seat Snapdragon Stadium. More than 8,000 tickets, many of them priced at more than $100 each, went unsold for the game. People priced out? “Seeing thousands of empty seats — despite a winning season and strong fan interest — has been disappointing,” Desmond wrote. “For many families, the cost of tickets, parking, and concessions can easily reach several hundred dollars, making it difficult to attend even a single game.” Desmond, whose district covers North County, is a 1985 San Diego State graduate with a degree in electrical engineering. He was a Delta Airlines pilot for 33 years and served as mayor of San Marcos from 2006-18 before being elected to the Board of Supervisors. Desmond noted the high cost of living in the region, that families are “burdened” with rising costs in utilities, housing, taxes and other expenses. “When something as special as cheering on our hometown team becomes unaffordable,” he wrote, “it’s a sign that we’ve drifted away from the community spirit that public institutions like SDSU should represent. “Snapdragon Stadium was envisioned as a community asset — a place for San Diegans to gather, celebrate, and support our student-athletes. Families should be able to attend games at prices that are fair and accessible, not cost-prohibitive.” Desmond offered to work with the university “to explore creative ways to make SDSU football more accessible for San Diegans — whether through family-friendly ticket packages, local community nights, or discounts through my office that encourage attendance and engagement.” Ask the coach: Sean Lewis discusses influence of ‘Extreme Ownership,’ kick coverage and this job of his SDSU Athletics offered the following response to the letter: “We are San Diego’s football team, and are thrilled by the success we’ve seen this season. We want every seat at Snapdragon Stadium filled and the community united in cheering on our Aztec football team. “Our goal is to make game days an exciting, welcoming, and unforgettable experience that brings our San Diego region together. We offer a variety of ways to attract and engage fans, including special promotions, pregame entertainment and activities like the River Park Block Party, and in-game entertainment, and we are actively exploring and planning to announce more ways we can engage and support our fans and our community.” There are more than 6,000 tickets available on TicketMaster.com for SDSU’s next home game, Nov. 15 against Boise State game. Fewer than 300 tickets (all on the visitor side) were at the lowest price point — $62.55. Prices for the other tickets were $115.60, $156.90, $180.50, $209.95 and $298.45. Late Wednesday, SDSU announced a special two tickets for $40 offer on selected seats. The promotion was in the works before Desmond sent his letter. It includes seats located throughout the upper wast side of the stadium as well as on the north and south corners of the west side, totaling approximately 2,000 seats. Drawing a crowd Attendance has been a regular topic of discussion throughout SDSU’s three-plus seasons at Snapdragon Stadium, where the Aztecs have yet to enjoy a sellout in 24 games played. Season-ticket sales were 15,973 in 2022 when the stadium opened, but they steadily declined following 7-6, 4-8 and 3-9 seasons. Season-ticket sales for the 2025 season totaled 8,111. Announced attendance averaged 29,225 (21,565 turnstile) that first year. This season, the Aztecs are averaging 26,334 announced (tickets distributed) and 18,367 turnstile (in-house) through four home games. School officials were hopeful that a winning team would bring back fans, but the stands were barely half full against Wyoming for an SDSU team that won for the seventh time in eight games this season. Many observers point to ticket prices as the primary problem with attendance. John David Wicker, SDSU’s director of athletics, pushed back at that during an interview this week. “We have to pay for a stadium,” Wicker said. “Interestingly enough, San Diego State built this stadium. We’re not like the NFL and we didn’t have the city and the county throwing hundreds of millions of dollars at us to help us build our stadium. We paid full price for the property and then we paid full price for a stadium, so we have to pay for the stadium and we have delivered on that stadium. … “We have brought ticket prices down. If you look, they’re significantly cheaper (than in 2022) in different areas of the stadium. … You have to make sure you protect your season-ticket holder. You can’t deeply undercut (the price) where someone can come in and just buy a single-game ticket. If they bought six single-game tickets, now it’s less than the season-ticket holder. So we’ve tried to price the building in a way that allows us to pay for the building to continue fielding what we feel like is a top-25 football program and delivering a great game-day experience and stadium experience. SDSU lowered season ticket prices by 20% two years ago, though the Aztecs went from a seven-game to a six-game home schedule, so the effective decrease per game was 7% to 8%. At the same time, season ticket holders were offered 10% discounts on concessions and merchandise, priority access to other Snapdragon events and other incentives. Given the performance on the field, attendance for the Wyoming game left much to be desired. “I was disappointed in the attendance,” Wicker said. “I don’t think anybody wasn’t. We know we have a strong fan base. Again, we saw that first year of what people would do. They would buy tickets, and they would buy them at a higher price than they are today. And we’ve heard from our fan base. Lower ticket prices. We’ve lowered ticket prices. Give us more amenities with our season ticket. We’ve done that. We want to see a better product on the field. We’ve delivered that. “You sit there and you say, ‘OK, what else can we do?’ I mean, we’ve done everything that our fans have asked us to do, and we have a 7-1 football program. We’ve got a four-game stretch (coming up) where, I think if we win out, we’re definitely going to be in the College Football Playoff discussion. “So we need our fans to show up. I mean, people show up for basketball. I had a fan text me the other day, ‘Well, you were playing Wyoming.’ It’s time for the fan base to move on. It’s not about who you’re playing. It’s about the name on our jersey. It’s about San Diego State University and supporting our student-athletes, who are working really hard to represent your institution and all that means.” Key questions Does Wicker feel like he needs to adjust prices down again, with half as many season ticket holders now as there were three years ago? “I think a winning product on the field is the thing that, hopefully, should fuel that and start moving people back,” he said. “You know, you’re winning on the field, you can’t have a much better all-inclusive experience with what we’re doing today.” Desmond wrote that many people simply can’t afford to go to games. Does Wicker agree with that? “I realize how much things have changed in the last three or four years and yet we’ve brought season ticket prices down,” Wicker said. “The Padres don’t have a problem drawing (fans) for 81 games. SDFC hasn’t had a problem drawing with their 20-plus games, for the most part. And those ticket prices are probably comparable with ours.”
