Senior University of Missouri student Kampbell Hemeyer anxiously waited by two computers the morning of Aug. 12 trying to buy a Zou Pass. She received an email the week prior that Zou Passes, a $200 student pass that covers all Mizzou regular-season sports events, would be back on sale on Aug. 12. According to the email, the purchase link would be sent via email at 10 a.m. 

However, at 10 a.m. Hemeyer saw no email. She kept refreshing her page. Still no email. At 10:04, she checked the University of Missouri Athletics Instagram page and saw the purchase link had been posted on the account’s story. 

By the time Hemeyer got to the queue, the site said she had to wait an hour. 

“So I was expecting an email, and then I ended up waiting around for two hours,” Hemeyer said. “And then I see the message on my FEVO saying they were sold out. This was after the site had crashed multiple times, so I stayed on the queue, just in case. But it ended up getting sold out before I could get any and I didn’t get the Zou Pass this year.” 

Remi White, an MU junior, checked his email as early as 9:45 a.m. to make sure he could buy tickets right away. He didn’t realize that the purchase link was posted to Instagram until 10:10 a.m. White waited in the queue for an hour before seeing that the pass was sold out. 

According to an email sent from Mizzou Athletics Strategic Communications to The Maneater, an email with the link that would go live at 10 a.m. was deployed at 9 a.m. Their system reported that every email was sent by 9:06 a.m. with a 99.76% delivery rate. However, White said he didn’t receive the email until 8 p.m. that night. Hemeyers said she didn’t receive the email with the link until 7:30 a.m. the next day. 

Hemeyer has bought a Zou Pass every year that she’s been at MU. When this year’s Zou Passes were released in May, Hemeyer said she wasn’t in a position to spend $200 at the time because she planned on studying abroad over the summer. She also didn’t know she could charge the cost to her student account. 

White didn’t purchase a Zou Pass during the May rollout because he didn’t realize there was a small window. The Mizzou Athletics emails notifying students of the purchase window and deadline went to the “Other” folder in his Outlook. He was also busy with classes, as the purchase window was from May 5 to May 13, the week before finals. 

“The first rollout, I wasn’t really aware that it was being sent out during that time,” White said. 

“And as a J-School student at the time, a lot of my finals are project based, and due the week before finals week. So, either way, I’m busy, and I’m not checking my email all the time, and even if I was, it was sent to my other section of my email, so it wasn’t even the main email to where I could see it.” 

The Zou Pass priority access for returning students ended on May 13. Over the summer, the passes were only available to freshmen and advertised during summer welcome.

“We truly understand how disappointing it is for some students to miss out on a Zou Pass,” said Senior Associate Athletics Director and Chief Public Relations Officer Michael Schroeder. “Zou Passes did sell out for a second-straight year after a priority window for returners in May, a Summer Welcome window for newcomers in June and July and another on-sale in August.”

Memorial Stadium is currently undergoing a $250 million renovation to add new seating on the north end and upgrade facilities. According to Mizzou Athletics Strategic Communications, because of the construction on the north end of the stadium, there is no more overflow Hill seating. Therefore, seating is more limited than in the past. 

Mizzou Athletics is implementing a claim process each week for football seating. Because of limited seating space, while around the same number of 2025-26 Zou Passes were sold as last year, not every student with a Zou Pass can attend each game. 

As a part of the claim system, students have to claim their tickets at 10 a.m. the Monday before each game. However, many students have classes during that time, making claiming tickets difficult. Students who joined the queue right at 10 a.m. reported having wait times of over two hours on social media platforms such as Instagram and Yik Yak. 

Edited by Erin Hynes | [email protected] 

Copy edited by Ava Mohror | [email protected] 

Edited by Chase Pray | [email protected]