The Boston University Athletics Department doubled the number of home hockey games students must attend during the 2025-26 season to receive a free jersey.

Students now must attend 16 home games instead of eight, with women’s games now counting toward the total.

The men’s hockey team has 19 regular season home games, and the women’s team has 17, meaning a student would need to attend just under 50% of all home games to achieve the 16-game mark. 

In an email to The Daily Free Press, Brian Kelly, BU Athletics’ associate athletic director for communications and brand services, wrote that in recent years, the jersey program has been “very successful with a high number of student fans taking advantage of.” 

“This year we wanted to include our nationally ranked women’s program as part of this incentive to help increase their attendance,” he wrote. 

Josh Mester, president of the BU Dog Pound, which represents the student section at Agganis Arena, said BU Athletics and Agganis originally considered eliminating the jersey program entirely.

“[Agganis] told us BU was enrolling so many people. So many people are coming to games that it’s just not affordable,” Mester said.

Freshman Ishaan Sethi said he believes the new program will incentivize more students to attend both teams’ games.

“Both men and women’s hockey should be watched by everyone,” Sethi said.

Mester said while some students may be discouraged, he believes the increased game count won’t make it impossible for students to earn a jersey. However, he said he hopes it will positively impact attendance for the women’s games.

“Even if you miss a few games, it’s still very possible,” Mester said. “If people just go to the women’s games, it’s not a problem at all. That’s something we really want to encourage.”

Sethi echoed his positivity about the change.

“If you actually are a fan of BU, and if you support the sport, then you go for the games, regardless of the jersey,” he said. “Go BU.”