UCLA Student Tickets Now Free for Football, Men’s Basketball and Women’s Basketball

A week after personally buying and giving away 300 football tickets for free, Tim Harris has taken another bold step.

Sep 17, 2026

The Den is about to become a little more ferocious to opponents at UCLA home games. (Photo Credit: uclabruins.com)

Wow!

For years, alums have written on our pages and those on our previous site that student tickets should be free.

Yesterday, new UCLA AD Tim Harris made that dream a reality when the UCLA Athletic Department announced that student tickets for UCLA football, men’s basketball and women’s basketball will be free, starting with Saturday’s football game against Purdue.

The move by the new athletic director is a brilliant move which should pay both immediate and long-term dividends. The immediate payback will come against Purdue and UCLA’s five other remaining home games. The idea is to remove cost as an obstacle to student attendance. Now, students have no reason not to fill the Den at the Rose Bowl or to pack Pauley.

For any student who may not have a way to get to the Rose Bowl, Rooter Bus tickets can be purchased for $15 per game or $60 for the rest of the season. The season-long pass lowers the cost to just $10 per game.

Ultimately, though, this is really a brilliant long-term move by the Athletic Department. By getting today’s students into the habit of going to Bruin football and both men’s and women’s basketball games, this decision should pay dividends by increasing demand for season tickets when today’s students graduate and start their careers.

You didn’t see this sort of thing done by Dan Guerrero, Martin Jarmond or even Pete Dalis, though to be fair to Pete Dalis, student football tickets when I was a freshman in 1989 were just 5 bucks each and Rooter Bus tickets were $7 each. That was a pretty modest cost then. If you factor in the Rooter Bus season pass, the total cost of a ticket plus a ride to the game is STILL now a couple bucks less than 1989.

Great job, Tim Harris!

If this huge change still hasn’t convinced you that we have entered a new era of UCLA Athletics, what exactly will it take to convince you? Let us know in the comments below.

Go Bruins!!!

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