It’s going to cost more to attend a University of Maine men’s ice hockey game next season. That’s not a shock. It costs more to do pretty much everything these days.

The cheapest single game ticket to get into Alfond Arena next season will be $31, up from $22 this past season. That’s a 40% increase. Season-ticket holders are getting hit with an increase too. Depending on where your seats are, the cost of season tickets is going up anywhere from 23% to 32%.

Shawn Bean of Madison said his tickets are increasing from $261 each for the season to $399. “Quite the jump,” he said.

In a letter to season-ticket holders earlier this week, the university described the changes as modest. The increases better align pricing with demand, they said.

Modest is in the eye of whoever is writing the check. Especially at a time when buying a tank of gas feels like an investment, and the weekly run to the grocery store leaves you shaking your head. It’s not a great look for the team that prides itself on being the state’s team to ask fans to dig deeper to attend games next season when they’re already digging deeper for everything else.

“The unfortunate piece is, the timing’s not great, but the reality is the timing’s never great for a price increase,” said Jude Killy, Maine’s director of athletics.

The increase is the result of an analysis of the university’s ticketing system with its partner Playfly Aspire, a firm that handles Maine’s box office and studied how Maine’s prices compared to other schools with top-level hockey programs.

Troy Richardson of Brewer posted in the The University of Maine Hockey Fans Facebook group that the cost of his four season tickets is going up to $2,156 from $1,480. Richardson voiced his frustrations in the group’s chats, and that prompted a call from someone in the athletic department. Richardson declined to say who, but said the conversation was cordial and informative.

“Am I happy with the price increase? No. But I understand it now. That was my big thing. They sent us the email without an explanation,” Richardson said Thursday afternoon. “You can’t compare Chestnut Hill (site of Boston College) with Orono, Maine. There’s a lot more money in Chestnut Hill.”

Richardson has been a season ticket holder for 25 years, and he’ll renew. He likes that the university now allows season ticket holders to spread their payments over six months. That’s a fair concession and a nod to the financial realities of many families.

The university is correct. The demand is there, and it’s not dissipating.

According to attendance figures posted at USCHO.com, 95,795 attended Maine home games last season, an average of 5,042 per game (including a pair of games at Portland’s Cross Insurance Arena). Alfond was at more than 99% capacity for the season. Black Bears hockey is one of the toughest tickets in the state. Even coming off a 2025-26 season in which the Black Bears were bounced from the Hockey East tournament in the quarterfinals and failed to make the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2023, interest in the team is high.

There’s a waiting list around 700-people deep for season tickets. A lot of fans will grumble about the price increase as they send the money off and await the schedule release. Asked if the sharp increase in price makes him think giving up his tickets, Bean answered emphatically.

“No, not for a second. Going to support our team,” he said.

Ticket prices have remained static for a while, Killy said, with small increases here and there rather than incremental increases on a regular basis. That accounts for some of the sticker shock season-ticket holders are having.

“Certainly any price increase, no one’s excited about. We’ve minimally increased prices in the time I’ve been here (since 2023). I think what’s happening now is we’re trying to play catch up pretty significantly to what the value and demand is for the market. We actually had a recommendation to increase prices even more, which we did not do at this time,” Killy said.

That the price jump could have been more is cold comfort to season-tickets holders looking at their invoice for 2026-27.

The ticket price increase also comes as the university counters an $18 million budget shortfall with a hike in tuition, staff reductions and budget cuts. The athletic department is not immune to those challenges, and Killy said more ticket revenue helps the operational budget.

It also comes on the heels of Killy’s announcement last month that direct pay to some student athletes is already happening in Orono. It doesn’t matter that all the money used in that regard is privately funded. The University of Maine Hockey Fans group on Facebook is already full of keyboard analysts convinced the opposite is true. Killy said he even brought up that perception in a staff meeting.

“Direct pay is completely disconnected from this,” he said.

Sports is a business, even in Maine. It should never be surprising when economics and fandom collide. Economics wins, every time.