Amid student criticism, growing enrollment numbers and increased demand for tickets, Mizzou Athletics announced a reimagined program for student ticketing distribution based on loyalty points and leaderboard rankings.
This year, Mizzou utilized a weekly lottery system for Zou Pass holders to submit their names for a chance to secure a ticket, replacing the previous first-come, first-served program.
Students, however, viewed this replacement as an ineffective solution to the increased demand for game day tickets, and dissatisfaction became apparent.
“I missed on some tickets because it was completely random, even though I went to as many games as I could,” said first-year John Bertoncin, who had a Zou Pass this year. “A lot of fairness was removed because it was completely random, and a lot more tickets were resold that way.”
Following scrutiny from Zou Pass holders, Mizzou Athletics surveyed Mizzou students, acquired feedback from this year and conducted student focus groups to “rebuild the process from the ground up,” according to Mizzou Athletics’ website.
The culmination of this research and dedication to improvement is the Zou Student Loyalty Program, a new approach to student ticketing for the 2026-27 school year.
At the beginning of next school year, points will automatically be awarded to students based on seniority. Seniors and graduate students will begin with 600 loyalty points, juniors with 400 points, sophomores with 200 points and first-year students with zero points.
With the implementation of this loyalty program, each Mizzou home game will be worth 50 points. Select high-demand games will be 100 points, called “double-point games.” Students will also have the opportunity to earn an additional 20 points for arriving early to home games and staying until the final whistle, along with attending certain campus events throughout the school year.
At the end of the academic year, 25% of each student’s unused loyalty points will carry over into the next school year, incentivizing students to continue attending Mizzou sporting events late into the semester.
The accumulated points will then rank students on a leaderboard, determining which students will have access to purchase football and men’s basketball tickets, as these tickets will now be purchased on a single-game basis rather than as a year-long package.
For each home football game, students will have a 72-hour window to request a ticket. All entries will then be ranked by the amount of loyalty points each student holds, and students will be notified via email, text message and push notification if they have received a ticket based on their ranking.
Students who gain access will then have 24 hours to purchase their ticket using a provided link, with each football game ticket estimated to cost anywhere from $10 to $50.
The method for securing a ticket to men’s basketball games will follow the process used in previous seasons, except that students are now paying for individual tickets rather than simply claiming them.
Each men’s basketball game will be grouped into designated blocks, allowing for the purchase of tickets within each block. When each block of the game is released throughout the season, students with the top loyalty points will receive a 72-hour priority window to purchase their tickets before they are made available to the rest of the Mizzou student body.
While not all games will have associated costs, the ones that do are estimated to range between $5 to $30 per game, with select high-demand names following the same request process as the football games.
In addition to this improved student ticketing system, Mizzou Athletics has announced it is expanding the student section in Memorial Stadium to include sections 314 and 315, along with reopening the Hill now that the stadium construction is complete.
Since these changes were publicized on April 21 via Instagram, students around campus have begun sharing their reactions and opinions on the modifications.
“It’s a better program and has a great potential to minimize ticket reselling and actually giving tickets to those who want to go to the games,” Bertoncin said.
Some students, however, think this newly integrated system will cause equity issues among Mizzou students.
“The more events you go to, the more stuff you get. But what if you’re really far from the athletic conferences?” first-year Safiya Hasan said. “That’s my problem. I want to go to stuff, but I can’t walk that far.”
While the effectiveness of the loyalty program won’t become clear until the beginning of the next school year, Mizzou Athletics believes this new system is better equipped to meet the ever-growing demands for Mizzou sporting events.
