Ticket prices for Great Falls Public Schools sporting events will increase this year.

The school board voted unanimously during their Aug. 21 meeting to increase the ticket prices.

Mike Henneberg, GFPS athletic director, said that the ticket prices hadn’t been evaluated or changed since 2006.

Proceeds from ticket and pass sales help offset the costs associated with managing athletic programs and hosting athletic events.

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Henneberg told the board that the cost of managing and hosting athletic programs and events have increased significantly over the last 17 years.

He said that members of the athletic department, executive directors and secondary building administrators met to evaluate the current pricing structure of tickets and passes and compare those to other AA school districts.

“It was determined that given the length of time since the last revision and comparing prices across the state that a nominal increase in ticket/season passes was in order,” according to Henneberg.

For the upcoming school year, season passes for adults will increase from $55 to $60; and for students it will increase from $15 to $20.

Family passes will remain at $135.

“We are committd ot making our events family friendly and family affordable,” Henneberg said. “I feel like we’ve been very, very considerate of the community in not wanting to price any of our fans or supporters out. We really want the community to be a part of the experience and we want to keep that affordable.”

Individual ticket prices for events at Memorial Stadium will increase from $6 to $7 for adults and $4 to $5 for students.

Tickets for all other sports will be raised from $5 to $6 for adults and $3 to $4 for students.

Henneberg told the board that ticket prices will likely have to increase again in the future, but they aren’t planning to do so annually.

He said the district would also need to revisit the student fees to participate in athletics in the future, but didn’t anticipate doing so in the near future.

Those fees were last increased in 2019.