The Fighting Irish are set to appear in the 2025 College Football Playoff (CFP) National Championship on Monday, but tri-campus undergraduates face challenges securing their own spot at the game. Despite a lottery system that offered more tickets than Ohio State’s student allotment, demand on campus still exceeded the supply of tickets available.
On Jan. 3, the day after the Irish’s 23-10 Sugar Bowl victory over Georgia, the Notre Dame Ticket Office announced that students could apply for national championship tickets through their portal, noting that a lottery would be held if demand exceeded supply.
John Breeden, Notre Dame associate athletics director for tickets, sales and revenue strategy, disclosed in an email to The Observer that 1,000 tickets were granted to students through the lottery. Of these, 500 were earmarked by the CFP for student use through the Live Más Taco Bell student section.
The remaining 500 were granted to students through the University’s own allotment, at a reduced rate of $150 compared to the original allotments’ $450 price tag.
In an email from the Ohio State Athletics Department to student ticket requesters, the department conceded that only 500 tickets had been made available to students out of over 3,400 that applied, all of which had already been marked for students by the CFP.
“I believe this shows some positives,” Breeden said, “especially our ability to raise donations from our benefactors to reduce the cost of student tickets and provide 500 more student tickets than Ohio State.”
Ohio State sophomore Elle Doff commented on the number of tickets awarded, classifying the decision as “unfair to most of us” and emphasized that the odds of getting in were exceedingly low at a college with an undergraduate population of over 45,000 students.
Breeden noted the lottery at Notre Dame was necessary due to “overwhelming demand.” He also mentioned seniors were “heavily prioritized,” though not every senior was able to receive a ticket.
Breeden did not respond to a request for comment on the total number of allotted tickets that the University had received, nor how many students had requested a ticket through the lottery.
In last year’s CFP National Championship game, a University of Washington spokesperson reported that the university had been allotted 20,000 tickets to distribute on their own.
Some students were quick to comment on the disproportionate number of their friends and classmates who had not received student tickets.
Sophomore Luke Donoghue, a season ticket holder who did not receive a ticket, said he was disappointed by the denial but less so when he spoke to others about the result.
“Of the 50 or 60 people I’m close to in my dorm, three of them received tickets,” he said.
Sophomore Jakes Jordaan relayed a similar story, commenting that “out of 10 people in my friend group, only one of us got a ticket.”
Without tickets granted by the University, students who wanted to attend had to pursue other avenues. Some received tickets from family and friends or persuaded winners of other University ticket lotteries such as Notre Dame alumni. For others, the only option was to pay for a ticket at full price.
As of Jan. 19, the cheapest tickets among any of the major ticket distributors were over $1,700, with an average ticket price of $2,637 according to Front Office Sports.
Even without a ticket, some students will be making the trip to Atlanta anyway.
“I am going to be taking a bus down to the game, and at this point, I will play it by ear and see how far prices fall,” Donaghue said.
