What ticket data reveals about belief, loyalty, bandwagons, and the true cost of loving a college football team.

Some of you bought championship tickets in September, without knowing if your team would be playing. That’s the raw, “THIS IS OUR YEAR” unhinged energy that powers college football fandom.

Using Gametime’s 2025 ticket data, we analyzed how fans across some of the top college football teams actually behaved this season: who traveled, who paid top dollar for losing teams, who jumped on the bandwagon early, who panic-sold after losses, and who never stopped believing.

The result is the first-ever Gametime Fanalytics Awards.

The Bandwagon Award: Indiana Hoosiers

Let’s kick off these awards with a spicy one: The Bandwagon Award, given to the team that experienced the biggest spikes in sales and demand after they started winning.

But to be fair, who couldn’t resist supporting a team with such a great up-and-comers’ story? Indiana has the most all-time losses of any FBS team, but Coach Cignetti has turned this program around from a 3-9 nobody to one of the most dominant teams in recent history. Google him.

The FIRE EVERYONE Award: Penn State Nittany Lions

On the flipside, we have the “FIRE EVERYONE” Award, given to the team that experienced the biggest drop in sales after losing.

Yikes. This may hit a little too close to home for Penn State fans, who parted ways with longtime coach James Franklin shortly after their surprising loss to Northwestern in October. If you’re looking for the Penn State faithful, they’re all-in on the Campbell–Becht 2026 ticket and ready to deny that their 2025 season Crumbl’d.

Most Expensive Ticket: Georgia Bulldogs

The average ticket price to see a regular season Georgia game was $272 on Gametime. You could see two or three NFL Games (if you’re willing to watch the Arizona Cardinals) for the price of one Georgia ticket. You know what they say in the SEC: ”It just costs more.”

Cheapest Ticket: Arizona Wildcats

The average ticket price to see a regular season Arizona game was $39 on Gametime. So you could see about seven Wildcats games for the cost of one Georgia ticket. Arizona, congratulations on making the “value menu” of college football. Is the football good? That’s subjective. Is it still cheaper than the $40 “Grand Slamwhich” at a Diamondbacks game? Yes.

The “She Doesn’t Even Go Here” Award: LSU

This award goes to the team with the highest percentage of ticket sales to out-of-state purchasers. Fans outside Louisiana bought 54% of all LSU tickets on Gametime. The LSU fam-uh-lee reaches far and wide. (Too soon?) Tennessee and Florida State were next, followed by Notre Dame.

We really thought Notre Dame would be #1!

The “I am Never Going to Financially (Or Emotionally) Recover From This” Award: Oklahoma Sooners

Some of the most expensive tickets we sold all year were to Sooners for their October home game against Ole Miss. But Ole Miss came from behind to beat the Sooners in the 4th Quarter, making this our top 2025 moment that broke you financially and emotionally.

The “This is Our Year!” Award: Miami Hurricanes

This award goes to the fans with the most purchases of championship game tickets before we actually knew who’d be playing. We thought we’d be mocking your delusion here, Miami, but you actually made it and now get to say a big “I told you so.” Huge respect to these fans who called that they’d go all the way early on and then actually did! Unless, of course, you’re just a fan willing to watch a championship game in your hometown regardless of who made it.

The “Smiling Through the Pain” Award: Florida State

This award goes to the fans who pay the most to see a losing game. That is an expensive 5-7 record at a $156 average per game (or an even more painful $374 per win). There are far cheaper ways to hurt your own feelings, but we at Gametime appreciate you choosing such an expensive option.

The Most Valuable Rivalry: “The Lone Star Showdown” Texas vs Texas A&M

College football is nothing without rivalries, and among them the 2025 “Lone Star Showdown” between Texas and Texas A&M was by far the most expensive. Fans of these schools are still making up for the last decade-plus and are willing to pay a premium, proving no hate was lost to time.

The Iron Bowl (Auburn vs Alabama) carries the largest price premium compared to a season average, costing an extra $489 per ticket (+540.9%) over Auburn's average home game. So, this stat goes out to all you Alabama fans who want to loudly claim that no one cared about watching Auburn football this year unless the Tide was in town.

The Biggest Score (on Gametime): $3 Northwestern Wildcats at Penn State Lions

This one’s awarded to the cheapest ticket we sold on Gametime in 2025. Which, by the way, was a great deal for Northwestern fans who got to see Northwestern beat Penn State for the first time in 10 years, and kick out longtime coach James Franklin along the way. For the price of a gas station hot dog, Northwestern fans got to watch their team end an entire era. That may be one of the best ROIs in B1G history.

The Road Warrior Award: Indiana Hoosiers

This award goes to the team who bought the most tickets to neutral-site games. Is Indiana’s win here any surprise, with the stadium turnout we saw at the Peach Bowl? What can we say, years of March Madness runs prepared this fanbase for the road.

The Couch Potato Award: Alabama Crimson Tide

This award goes to the team that bought the fewest tickets to neutral-site games. Now this was surprising! Alabama played two neutral site games in the postseason, but fans bought very few tickets to support their team in the Rose Bowl, leading them to win our inaugural Couch Potato award. Who knows, maybe Alabama fans could sense their 38-3 loss coming and decided to wait for next season.

Your team didn’t make the cut? F– all the voters

Are our results skewed because we’re only using our own data? Probably. Are we just full of it? Maybe. Does that make the $3 Penn State ticket any less hilarious? Not even a little bit.

From $3 tickets to championship dreams bought months early, college football fans showed up in every possible way during the 2025 season. These awards highlight not just who won and lost, but how fans invested their time, money, and belief along the way. Wherever the next season takes you: across the country, to a rivalry game, or straight into another “THIS IS OUR YEAR” moment, Gametime will be there when you’re ready to do it all again.

And while we wait for the College Football National Championship, college football fans can have a little promo code, as a treat. First-time Gametime users can get $20 off $150+ with code FANDOM.