Byrd Stadium

Students at this university made a record 9,000 ticket requests for the Ohio State game during last week’s two-day period. Now, tickets for the 10,000-seat student section on Saturday are sold out, said Matt Monroe, athletic ticket services assistant director.

Students can still purchase guest tickets, but they’ve been renamed as “family and friends” tickets for the Terrapins football team’s first Big Ten conference home game — and they come with a higher price tag than usual.

Student guest tickets typically range between $25 and $35. But family and friends tickets for the Ohio State game cost $40 plus a $3 online convenience fee.

Hashem Hraky, a junior environmental health and physiology and neurobiology major, said he wanted to purchase a guest ticket for his friend for this weekend’s game, but became discouraged when he saw the price.

Monroe said guest tickets cost more for premium games, when the athletic department perceives tickets will be higher in demand to watch certain rivalries. This weekend is one of these games.

Guest ticket prices are based on the face value of the tickets, which is the ticket’s price for the general public.

“We do a lot of analysis based upon the value of that game and the opponents we’re playing,” Monroe said.

In the 2013 season, the highest face value for a ticket on lower stadium levels was $75. Tickets on a few hundred seats for the Ohio State game are priced at $85.

“The face value of the Ohio State game is bigger than any other game on the schedule as of now,” Monroe said.

Monroe said this university falls slightly toward the lower end of ticket prices for conference games.

Some Big Ten schools charge students for tickets, but Monroe said this university has not discussed charging for student tickets. But all students at this university pay a mandatory athletic fee. Full-time undergraduate students currently pay $203.19 annually.

Since this university’s move to the Big Ten conference, ticket sales and average attendance have increased by about 25 percent, Monroe said. So far this fall, the ticket office has sold more than 22,000 season tickets.

Guest tickets are released based on remaining student section availability. And because of the demand for tickets to the Ohio State game, the university could not provide student guest tickets in the student section for this Saturday’s game, Monroe said.

Instead, the university opened up additional seats in the 300 level of Byrd Stadium to make room for family and friends ticket holders.

Hraky said he wanted to be able to sit with his friend, so he emailed the university’s ticket office. The ticket office staff recommended he switch his ticket to the 300 level seats to sit with his visiting friend, Hraky said.

For Hraky, this would come at the cost of sitting with his other friends in the student section. So Hraky posted in the University of Maryland Class of 2016 Facebook group, looking to buy a student ticket.

Hraky is not alone. Other students have begun to buy and sell student tickets through university Facebook groups.

When senior community health major Sarah Kolar discovered she had to work on gameday, she posted on the University of Maryland Class of 2015 Facebook page offering to sell her ticket.

She said someone contacted her in less than five minutes, and she sold the student-section ticket for $40. Kolar said there was no price negotiation, and the buyer was eager to purchase the ticket.

“Sitting in the actual student section — it’s a better vibe … and more fun,” Kolar said.

Four premium-designated games are on the schedule for this season, which included the Sept. 13 game against West Virginia and the upcoming games against Iowa and Michigan State.

Monroe said the “additional exposure” that the Big Ten brings and an increase in fans’ expectations have contributed to the increase in ticket sales and attendance.

He also pointed to the Terps’ 4-1 start that might translate into increased ticket sales and game attendance.

Hraky said he attended all but two games last season, and this season he has noticed a more “packed” student section.

“We are playing harder teams,” Hraky said. “I think that kind of makes it more fun because people want to see if Maryland wins.”