Ole Miss Athletics recently announced in an email to students and a post on X that they are introducing an early lottery for 2026 football student season tickets. Additionally, the athletics department is limiting access to students who had a high ticket transfer rate or low attendance rate during the 2025 season.
In order to become eligible for early access, current student season ticket holders must download the Flare app and enter the six-digit code in the email to join the Club Red Flare group. Students must then attend the final two home games against The Citadel and Florida and remain in the student section until the first TV timeout of the fourth quarter, during which a “geofenced, numerical code” will be announced. Students still in attendance will enter this code into the Flare app.
Students who do this for both of the remaining home games (The Citadel on Nov. 8 and Florida on Nov. 15) will be entered into a lottery for a chance to purchase one of the 3,000 season tickets set aside for early access. In addition, if those students do not win, they will be automatically entered into the regular lottery next fall.
For some students, this is fantastic news. Others, however, feel excluded because they are not current season ticket holders and will be ineligible for this opportunity for early access.
Kyle Ippolito, a junior finance major who currently has season tickets, believes that it will all work out in the end.
“It gets people to go to the games,” Ippolito said. “It may be a little rough for some people, but it works out in other cases.”
Mackenzie Vance, a senior double major in English and history, does have student tickets this season, but she recognizes the polarity of this issue.
“I think it encourages people to stay, but I also think it’s unfair to people that didn’t have season tickets this year,” Vance said. “I think it sets up success for people that were able to get (the tickets) now to be able to do it again. It kind of leaves out opportunities for people that weren’t able to get tickets this year.”
Some students did not even know about this new policy. Taya Shea Lindsey, a junior psychology major, said she did not receive the email with the information.
“I just buy tickets that people with season tickets are trying to sell,” Lindsey said. “I wish (early access) was for everybody because I feel like a lot of people who aren’t going to the games are the people who got the tickets.”
Ole Miss Athletics will implement the new policy starting with tomorrow’s game at home against The Citadel.
