Penn State vs. Nebraska tickets among college football’s cheapest. How they compare
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Penn State–Nebraska tickets resell for as low as $6, cheapest among Saturday FBS games.
- Demand fell due to late November night kickoff, cold forecast, poor play & student exodus.
- Secondary market and local hotel data show supply outpacing fan travel and demand.
It might actually be easier this weekend for Penn State fans to get into Saturday night’s football game than it will be for them to get into Sunday afternoon’s volleyball match.
The cheapest Penn State football tickets for the Nebraska game are priced as low as $6 on Vivid Seats, a major online ticket marketplace and reseller. (And, yes, that even includes fees.) No Saturday FBS game is cheaper, and PSU volleyball tickets on Sunday are going for at least $2 more on the secondary market, based on figures from Friday morning.
It’s relatively common for the Nittany Lions’ final home football game to be less attended than others. Chilly weather, unexciting opponents and students gone for Thanksgiving break all combine to typically make these tickets less in demand — but it’s an even starker contrast this season.
In the State College area, where it can feel easier to find an actual Nittany Lion than an available game-day hotel, at least 10 hotels within a five-mile radius of the downtown had vacancy as of Friday morning. The nightly rates still aren’t cheap — $251/night at Days Inn Wyndham by Penn State on Expedia, for example — but those who book late normally find themselves having to stay in Altoona and driving 45 miles to Beaver Stadium.
This is all despite the fact that Penn State and Nebraska are two of the top-10 winningest programs in college football history.
How do Penn State’s tickets compare to others?
Based on data from Vivid Seats, which is limited to Saturday’s matchups, only three other games in the country have tickets on the secondary market for as cheap as Penn State’s.
Other games with $6 tickets include Western Kentucky at LSU, Sam Houston State at Middle Tennessee State and Miami at Virginia Tech. Only LSU’s Tiger Stadium also has a capacity of more than 100,000 like PSU’s Beaver Stadium.
Among the games pricier than Penn State:
- Illinois at Wisconsin ($9): This is the second-cheapest ticket in the Big Ten. The Badgers are 3-7.
- Charlotte at Georgia ($54): The Bulldogs are No. 4 in the nation, although they’re playing a 1-9 Charlotte team that is a 44.5-point underdog.
- New Mexico State at UTEP ($20): Both teams have losing records with three and two wins, respectively.
The hottest college football ticket Saturday involves The Big Game, the annual Cal-Stanford rivalry that’ll kick off at 4:30 p.m. inside Stanford Stadium. The cheapest ticket starts at $138, or the equivalent of 23 of the cheapest Penn State-Nebraska tickets.
Why are Penn State tickets so cheap?
Again, it’s not unusual for the Nittany Lions’ Senior Day game to see lower attendance — but this year has been a little different from the past few.
First, let’s get the obvious out of the way: This is a historically disappointing season for the Nittany Lions, and fan interest is obviously lower compared to past years. Outside of 2020, when there was no fan attendance due to the COVID pandemic, Penn State last had a losing record heading into its home game finale — wait for it — back in 2004, when Joe Paterno was still head coach.
The fact Saturday’s game kicks off at 7 p.m. in November is also unique. Beaver Stadium hasn’t hosted a night game this late in the season in more than a decade.
Since 2013, Beaver Stadium has hosted only two November night games — 8 p.m. Nov. 9 vs. Washington (2024) and 7:30 p.m. Nov. 5 vs. Iowa (2016). The temperature for this Saturday’s Nebraska game is expected by AccuWeather to hover around 34 degrees. “Dress warmly for the football game,” State College’s forecast cautions.
On top of all that, Penn State students left in droves Friday for Thanksgiving break. Traffic was expected to be so severe that PennDOT issued a formal warning Thursday about the potential for backups and delays. Fewer students means less demand and fewer families traveling to meet them in Happy Valley.
Penn State’s late-season games are often bound to be on the cheaper side, especially given Beaver Stadium’s capacity of 106,000-plus. But, on Saturday, the cheapest tickets will cost about the same as a scoop of Creamery ice cream.
It appears many fans will likely take a rain check on both this weekend.
