Starting spring 2026, the Office of Student Activities (OSA) will provide $15 tickets to Minnesota United Football Club (FC) games for students to purchase through the StudentU program, the soccer club’s most recent initiative to engage with the state’s college student population.
This season is the first time StudentU will run. Partnering with other Minnesota colleges and universities, StudentU provides regular season ticket packages for higher-education institutions to purchase and distribute to students at lower rates.
“The StudentU Program is a way to get more undergrad students out to soccer games by trying to make it a little more affordable.” Minnesota United FC Member Services Account Executive Carter Olson said in an interview with The Olaf Messenger. “Being a recent graduate over at St. Thomas myself, I know that I was scraping by a little bit but always loved going to soccer games.”
The desire to get students off campus is a sentiment shared by OSA too.
“We love opportunities to get students off campus,” Director of Student Activities Brandon Cash ’16 said in an interview with The Olaf Messenger. “We also know a lot of students have an affinity for soccer.”
In the past, the Programming Board has bought and sold game tickets to students, and St. Olaf has partnered with the Major League Soccer (MLS) club through the Alumni Office for College Nights.
However, the StudentU program is OSA’s first formal partnership with Minnesota United FC. Currently, OSA has purchased a package that allocates ten tickets per regular season home game. Students are able to purchase up to two tickets.
While transportation is not provided to and from Allianz Field, that hasn’t slowed down ticket sales as the first four home games are already sold out. For games beyond the 2025-26 academic year, OSA will push them out to students staying on the Hill over the summer and to incoming students.
“I know other sports teams in Minnesota have student discounts, so I like that this has expanded to the professional soccer team,” Men’s Soccer Club Captain Zach Thomson ’26 said in an interview with The Olaf Messenger. “I also think it’s a good opportunity to get St. Olaf students off campus, into the cities, and [exploring] St. Paul.”
Tickets are still available for purchase on the OSA Instagram page or their Eventbrite page.
Editor’s note: Zach Thomson is the business manager for The Olaf Messenger.
