With the 2026 K-State football season underway, K-State Athletics implemented a new ticket system for how students attain and get into the student section.

The new system, introduced before the start of the 2026-27 academic year, has caused mixed emotions as students line up outside Bill Snyder Family Stadium to be part of “The New Old School” culture.

The three-tier system includes penalties if students claim a ticket but don’t enter the game. However, if students don’t want to go to a game or have other commitments, they are not penalized for not claiming a ticket. 

“The real passionate fans sometimes don’t have the ability to go to all the other games beforehand,” Henry Knutson, senior in integrative physiology, said.

Tier 1 includes students who have attended every home game they claimed a ticket for; Tier 2 includes those who have attended two or more games they claimed a ticket for; and Tier 3 includes those who have attended one or zero games they have claimed a ticket for.

“I like how they moved it to the tiers,” Colton Mills, sophomore in mechanical engineering, said. “It makes it a lot easier for people to get tickets, and also it makes front row seats easier to get, especially for me and my group of friends, cause that’s like our big thing is we try to get front row. So having ICAT [Involved CAT] allows us to get in like 20 minutes early so we can go snag front row.”

If students want to attend a Saturday game, they must claim their ticket, which has a specific claiming process. The student claim window opens the Monday before game day via the K-State Sports mobile app at different times depending on which tier a student is a part of. Tier 1 opens at 8:30 a.m., Tier 2 opens at noon and Tier 3 opens at 4 p.m. 

When a student claims a ticket and then doesn’t scan into the game, they may give up their opportunity to claim a ticket during the next claim window.

“Why do I got to go to the five games beforehand against Tulane against the goobers of the world,” Knutson said. “I don’t care. I want to go to the KU game, and I’m paying for that ticket.”

While the new system discourages some student fans, others haven’t changed their attendance.

“The student section has been packed for almost all our games despite them not being what people would consider massive games,” Mills said. “It looks like a KU-K-State game despite playing schools from other conferences.”

Whether students agree with the system or not, K-State Athletics will have to determine if the new system is suitable to use in the coming years.