Ali Halloum 
PHOTO COURTESY JONAH GOLDBERG
Now well past the halfway point into the 2025 UTRGV football season, one concern has arisen among fans and students: the fast sell-outs of tickets combined with visibly empty seats at Robert and Janet Vackar Stadium.
In its inaugural season, UTRGV has hosted five home games at the 12,000-seat venue, averaging 12,655 fans per game, good for 17th among all schools in the Football Championship Subdivision and best in the Southland Conference, according to NCAA statistics.
But what is driving these concerns among fans? All home games have sold out on tickets, both in regular ticket sales and student-ticket claims. Of those tickets sold, the Athletics department estimates between 80 to 85% of these tickets are used by fans to attend games.
The Rider spoke with Chasse Conque, senior vice president and director of Athletics, and Derek Schramm, senior associate athletic director and chief revenue officer, and asked about seating and ticketing at the Edinburg venue.
Conque replied Vackar Stadium’s unique arrangement, with areas such as tailgate zones and bars for fans to gather, as well as a generous re-entry policy, can lead to about 1,500-2,000 fans out of their seats at any given time.
“Those are all dynamics that at times may lead to what look like empty seats,” he said. “It doesn’t mean that they’re not at the stadium necessarily.”
Schramm added fans can walk out of their seats and can return at any time to tailgate outside of the stadium.
“We’ve just created such a great space [and] game day experience for everybody,” he said.
One issue that has raised concerns is the rapid depletion of tickets. On Mondays for student tickets and Fridays for general admission, tickets sell out within hours of their 8 a.m. release time.
Asked about the window of ticket availability, Conque replied, while it is a “good problem to have” to sell tickets quickly, “it is a problem,” and refreshing the page helps when the site slows.
“We want as many people to be in that stadium as possible,” he said. “As simple as that seems, you know, those transactions are happening fast. Tickets are in carts, [and] some tickets, then, are dropped from those carts.”
Conque said Athletics extensively monitors the distribution of football tickets, particularly on Fridays, calling the setup the department’s “war room.”
“We’re monitoring everything,” he said. “Whether it’s the [standing room only] tickets or some of the unused visiting team allotment or pass-list tickets, you can see the transactions. You can see their addresses, and they’re coming from the Rio Grande Valley.”
In addition to monitoring direct-ticket transactions, they also monitor how tickets are distributed on secondhand sites such as StubHub or Facebook Marketplace. Schramm said UTRGV does not partner with brokers.
“We do see the transfer data, so that’s helpful for us to keep an eye on and keep a pulse on how those tickets are being moved to one account to another,” Conque added.
Knowing that several tickets remain unused, Athletics has outlined how to transfer tickets and has also launched a partnership with VetTix. The charity collects unused tickets and donates them to veterans.
Students unable to attend the game can return tickets to the department or transfer them to another student, while fans can either return them or donate them to donate@vettix.com.
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