SAN ANTONIO — UTSA students do not need to pay to attend the Conference USA championship football game at the Alamodome on Dec. 3.
The school tweeted Monday that students can claim free tickets to the title game beginning Nov. 29.
Even though UTSA will host the matchup, the championship does not function as a traditional home game. Under conference rules, students would normally have to pay $5 or $15 to attend.
But April Ancira, vice president of the auto-group that bears her family's name, called prominent San Antonio businesses to cover ticket costs Sunday.
The school coordinated with her to set up a crowdsourcing fund Monday. Ancira donated the first $5,000.
"Feeling like you were the reason a student got to attend this game for free and be part of the loudest crowd in UTSA history has got to make someone feel good," she told KENS 5 in an interview.
In just hours after the school shared a contribution link on Twitter, donors covered 70% of the original $20,000 goal. The school has since doubled its ask to $40,000.
H-E-B also answered the call by donating $10,000 worth of student tickets (which comes out to 2,000 total).
“H-E-B is proud of our UTSA Roadrunners’ historic season! H-E-B is donating 2,000 tickets to UTSA students so we can pack the Dome and cheer on our Roadrunners for the C-USA Championship Game on December 3,” Ashwin Nathan, Vice President Marketing and Advertising of H-E-B, said.
You can contribute to the fund here.
"Everybody is getting behind this wonderful team in a city that's been desperate to have a football team in it," Ancira said. "The buzz was just huge and the excitement to help was definitely there."
Coach Jeff Traylor praised Ancira for the idea during his weekly teleconference. His Roadrunners are undefeated, with one more regular-season game left to play.
UTSA will travel to Denton to play the University of North Texas on Saturday.