CCU serving free food at football games. How many dogs did fans eat at home opener?
Correction: A previous version of this article misstated why ticket prices for Coastal Carolina University football games increased. (Updated 3:44 p.m. Sept. 9, 2025)
Thousands of Coastal Carolina fans wanted a free hot dog real bad.
During Saturday’s first home game of the football season, college students, their parents and alums were seen walking around Brooks Stadium carrying four hot dogs in one hand, balancing a tray of nachos and a Pepsi and munching on popcorn as they wandered back to their stadium seats.
The popularity of these concessions was not a coincidence. Coastal Carolina University launched a new initiative at the first home football game of the season: Free food.
It appears CCU is the only college sports stadium in the country offering free concessions at football games.
Patrick Osborne, the CCU associate athletic director for social media and marketing, could not think of another school with the same practice. When CCU posts about the free food, students at other colleges tag their schools in the comments and request this be added to their stadium, he said.
Overall, the first night of free concessions was incredibly successful.
During the Saturday night game, 22,217 people showed up, which is the most people to show up in program history, Osborne said. CCU hands over 7,000 free tickets to students and for the first time, all 7,000 were requested.
Certain ticket prices increased this year, but that was part of a normal price jump and not specifically to cover concessions, Osborne said.
“I think now that people have seen just how easy and how fun it can be, it’s nothing but excitement on our end,” Osborne said on Monday. “It’s another reason for fans to come to the game.”
There were many concession stands set up around the stadium offering free hot dogs, popcorn, nachos and fountain drinks. Customers could take up to four items at a time and go through the concession line as many times as they wanted.
Throughout the night, CCU concessions handed out 27,000 hot dogs, according to Osborne. Some stuck to a sane number of two hot dogs while others like season ticket holder Caden Livingston ate “like 10.”
At the busier stands on the east side of the stadium, customers waited in line for up to 10 minutes until they could grab a hot dog from a warming case while at slower counters on the west side, employees handed over food.
Fans decked out in every piece of teal clothing imaginable gushed about how excited they were for the free food. Students said the system made games better for college students on a tight budget while parents complimented the speediness of wait-times.
Since CCU students get into football games at no charge, they essentially get a free buffet of hot dogs and nachos by attending a game. In previous years, CCU would let students use their meal plan cards to get two free concession items, several students said.
“With tuition and everything, a lot of people’s money is already tight enough,” said freshman Allyson Tackett. “I have the cheapest food plan so even if they took the (meal plan) dollars, I don’t have that many. It’s really convenient for the students.”
The grab-and-go system made the line more efficient. At the longest lines near the main entrance of Brooks Stadium, it took 10 minutes to make it from the back to the front. About a dozen people said they did not mind the wait as the line was constantly moving.
CCU dad Joe Robinette noted he got food faster than previous years.
“We waited probably like 30 minutes for Chick-fil-A last year and we haven’t even waited probably 10 minutes for this,” he said.
The main hiccup that seemed to slow people down was adding cheese to the nachos. The nachos came as a bag of tortilla chips in a paper basket and customers had to walk to a different station to add cheese. After waiting to grab chips, people would join another long line to top their nachos at a station littered with globs of yellow nacho cheese.
However, there were few complaints. People were willing to wait in line and deal with a little mess for free food.
At the beginning of the game, other food vendors said they saw a decline in sales, according to employees. Chick-fil-A employee Payton Rumley said the company brought several hundred fewer sandwiches to this game in preparation for the free concessions. There were almost never more than four people in line for paid concessions.
Besides the free concessions, fans can pay for pizza, Bojangles, Chick-fil-A, ice cream, chips, peanuts and cotton candy.
The free hot dogs and nachos will continue at all home games this season, Osborne confirmed. The next game at Brooks Stadium is on Sept. 13 at 7:30 p.m. CCU will play the East Carolina University Pirates.
When asked how she feels about the free hot dogs, student Natalie McLaughlin said “Obsessed, needed. They have to keep doing this forever.”
This story was originally published September 9, 2025 at 6:00 AM.
