Utes, BYU football preseason ticket sales explode

Preseason ticket sales on StubHub for the University of Utah Utes are up 500% this year, the company told Axios.

• Meanwhile, BYU preseason sales are up 150%.

What's happening: Live events are in demand, and college football is no different.

• StubHub's ticket sales are up more than 50% nationally — the most preseason sales of the past five years.

What they're saying: "Sales are through the roof, and it is going to be a very exciting football season," ticket expert Adam Budelli of StubHub told Axios.

• "This is likely to be the last season of college football as we know it, with conferences realigning at a rapid pace and playoff expansion on the horizon. We predict that ticket sales will start to reflect changes in how fans travel, create new rivalries and spotlight more teams across the country," Budelli says.

Between the lines: Off-season shakeups, including coaching staff changes and teams moving conferences, play a large role in the increase of ticket sales.

• Based on cumulative ticket sales between last season and ahead of this season, Colorado saw the biggest increase in ticket sales among last year's highest-selling teams, at 1,668%.