The athletic department had more than $3 million in alcohol purchases from seven home games last season, the first with sales open to everyone of legal age instead of only those in suites and clubs.
The impact of expanded alcohol sales on businesses around the stadium who also sell beer wasn’t as pronounced as owners and managers feared a year ago. But the Dillises are among those feeling changes on game days.
McIntosh qualified for a bonus of more than $76,000 in the first year of a reworked contract that includes incentive compensation tied to athletes’ academic performance and coaching bonuses.
The University of Miami asked a judge to dismiss or scale back a case alleging it interfered with agreements for a former University of Wisconsin football player.
Miami filed a motion Friday to dismiss a complaint filed in Dane County Circuit Court in June by Wisconsin and collective VC Connect that alleged Miami tampered with cornerback Xavier Lucas.
UW-Madison will be hosting swimming and diving squads this winter for the 2025-26 Olympic sports championships and tournaments.
The Big Ten Conference announced the dates and host sites Wednesday. The fall season is kicking off on Oct. 31 at Michigan State, with the Spartans hosting cross country championships from Nov. 6-9.
University of Wisconsin football fans have new options to fly nonstop from Madison for two road games in 2025.
American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines have added direct flights from Dane County Regional Airport on the weekends of Badgers games at Alabama and Oregon.
Heads up, Badgers fans! The Dane County Regional Airport has announced the return of nonstop flights to select University of Wisconsin-Madison football games.
These flights, as provided by Delta Air Lines, American Airlines, and United Airlines, offer UW football fans to travel to the University of Alabama and University of Oregon.
Given how well this summer’s concerts at Camp Randall Stadium were received, music fans might not have to wait another 28 years to attend another.
“The overall success of these shows demonstrates that we are capable operationally of hosting more shows and there is definitely an appetite and demand for more in the future,” said Mitchell Pinta, deputy athletic director and chief revenue officer for the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s athletics department.
“Don’t leave your seat at the end of the third quarter,” they wrote. “That’s when Wisconsin fans ‘Jump Around’ to the 1992 House of Pain classic of the same name, often causing Camp Randall to shake and vibrate. The tradition started in 1998, took a very brief, highly controversial hiatus in 2003 and became a rallying cry during the Badgers’ development into a Big Ten powerhouse under former coaches Barry Alvarez and Bret Bielema.”
After three successful shows in the last month at Camp Randall — the first in 28 years — Madison is back on the map for the biggest musical acts. The city, its boosters and the university should do everything it can to keep it that way.
“I think a bunch of J.J.’s message was, in my mind, grasping on to that idea of what humble and hungry looks like, and what being an underdog really is,” Badgers coach Luke Fickell said July 23 during Big Ten media day at Mandalay Bay Resort. “He didn’t say it, but I explained it to some of the leadership guys like you know. J.J.’s whole message was ‘I just want to be proud, and right now I’m not’.”
The team’s strong performance “stemmed a lot from us being fearful of her and if we had done bad, and also the culture that was created at practice, which honestly was a pretty high-anxiety culture,” Badgers runner Victoria Heiligenthal said. “I think it motivated people but obviously from a bad place of motivation.”
On the same day in January 2022 that Mackenzie Wartenberger told her runners that she was resigning for family reasons, the University of Wisconsin sang the praises of the women’s cross country coach in a tweet.
Some members of that team said they couldn’t believe their coach was being celebrated. Five women who ran for Wartenberger told the Wisconsin State Journal in interviews that they experienced mental abuse and a toxic culture on her team. One former runner, Brogan MacDougall, and her mother reported the abuse to athletics officials and the academic side of the university.
J.J. Watt, a former Wisconsin All-American and one of the best defensive players in NFL history, told the players at his alma mater last week he hasn’t enjoyed being a Badgers fan lately. The energy in the air shifted as Watt delivered a message that Wisconsin coach Luke Fickell boiled down to: “I just want to be proud and right now, I’m not.”
Coldplay performed their first-ever Madison concert on Saturday with a sold-out show at Camp Randall Stadium.
The concert was one of the first Camp Randall has seen since The Rolling Stones in 1997 and was the band’s first performance in Wisconsin since 2009.
Two Madison Area Technical College students had just left the Kollege Klub bar near the UW-Madison campus early Saturday when one of them thought she recognized Coldplay’s lead singer.
Coldplay’s sold-out Madison show at Camp Randall Stadium Saturday had about 58,000 attendees, according to a UW-Madison official. It was the latest stop in the band’s Music of the Spheres world tour, which began in 2022 and spans 225 nights in 80 cities across 43 countries.
Earlier this year it was announced that the Wisconsin basketball legend would be honored for his accomplishments on the hardwood as a member of the 2025 University of Wisconsin Athletic Hall of Fame. He’ll be back in Madison for the induction ceremony during the weekend of Sept. 5-6.
And Kaminsky will be inducted as a first-time dad. Kaminsky, along with his wife, Ashley Brewer, announced on Sunday, July 20, the birth of their first child, Francis Stanley Kaminsky IV.
All in all, Coldplay at Camp Randall Stadium in Madison July 19 went off without a hitch — and without a viral moment.
There were only two arrests and no other ejections at the concert, according to Marc Lovicott, the executive director of communication for the University of Wisconsin-Madison Police Department.
Luis Hernandez, strategic communications director and associate athletic director for the University of Wisconsin in Madison, said the school has come up with other ways to fund its $198.9 million athletics budget, including new corporate sponsorships, such as adding the Culver’s logo to the Kohl’s Center basketball court.
They’ve also scheduled events like concerts and the chance to play indoor golf at Camp Randall Stadium. The upcoming Morgan Wallen and Coldplay concerts at the stadium are the first to be held there in nearly 28 years, Hernandez said.
UW students don’t pay athletic fees, and the university plans on spending the full $20.5 million on athletes that is allowed, he said.
Wisconsin’s slate this season and the team’s lack of success under Fickell has many in the media questioning if the Badgers can climb back into contention in the new Big Ten. Reporters from across the Big Ten and national outlets voted Wisconsin to finish 12th in the conference in the Cleveland.com preseason poll.
A lawsuit that targets UW-Madison’s decision to reinstate a former Badgers football star accused of sexual assault will go back to a lower court.
The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals judges on July 11 overturned the dismissal of a lawsuit a woman brought against the University of Wisconsin-Madison over its decision to reinstate the player.
Camp Randall will welcome 58,000 people Saturday night for Coldplay’s first show in Wisconsin in 16 years.
That will be about 8,000 more people in the crowd than at each of Morgan Wallen’s shows last month, according to officials.
The sold-out Coldplay show coming Saturday to Camp Randall Stadium, like the two shows by country music superstar Morgan Wallen at the stadium three weeks earlier, is a game-changer for the city, said the president of Downtown Madison Inc.
A federal appeals court sided with a woman who accused a former Badger football star of sexual assault, overturning a lower court’s dismissal of her lawsuit against the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Wisconsin men’s basketball’s 2025-26 non-conference schedule is official — and includes some familiar faces.
High-major opponents on the schedule include BYU on Nov. 21 in Salt Lake City, Marquette on Dec. 6 at the Kohl Center and Villanova on Dec. 19 at Fiserv Forum, along with two teams from the 2025 Rady’s Children Invitational. The tournament, taking place on Nov. 27-28 in San Diego, also includes Florida, Providence and TCU.
Coldplay made Wisconsin history in October when it became the first concert announced at Madison’s Camp Randall Stadium in nearly 28 years.
Now, eight months later, the show is finally here — even though country superstar Morgan Wallen made sure the Chris Martin-led British band wasn’t the first to actually perform there. Wallen had two concerts, on June 28 and 29.
Former University of Wisconsin football player Nate White died last month after “a medical event that disrupted his breathing and heart functions,” according to a news release from police in Brookings, South Dakota.
Madison, Wisconsin’s capital city and home to the University of Wisconsin’s main campus, is one of the Midwest’s most magnetic destinations — and fall is prime time for a visit. It’s when you’ll find the city’s four pristine lakes reflecting the season’s fiery foliage, the Dane County Farmers’ Market (the largest producers-only market in the country) brimming with the local farms’ harvest, and Camp Randall Stadium erupting with the electric energy of Badger football.
A federal appeals court has reversed a lower court’s dismissal of a woman’s lawsuit against the University of Wisconsin-Madison over how it reinstated a Badgers football star after he had been expelled for sexual assault.
Marc VandeWettering, an eight-year veteran of the Badgers staff who has worked with Wisconsin for 13 years dating back to his time as a student, has been named the program’s general manager, the Badgers announced in a release Monday afternoon.
The Wisconsin Badgers made scholarship offers to at least six new recruits in the classes of 2027 and 2028 over an eight hour span, headlined by a few top four-star athletes.
The University of Wisconsin announced the promotion of Men’s Basketball chief of staff Marc VandeWettering to the position of General Manager on Monday.
The promotion will give him the responsibilities of overseeing recruiting, roster management, player personnel and revenue sharing strategy alongside head coach Greg Gard.
Daniel Wright, a 6-foot-9 pitcher, was taken in the 10th round by the Chicago White Sox. In 2020, he walked on to play quarterback for the Wisconsin football team, then returned to baseball in 2022 at Iowa Western Junior College, before landing at Houston, then Iowa.
When Shuntia Lucas told her 14-year-old son she was applying for a promotion — which would make her the first Black woman to hold the rank of sergeant at the Dane County Sheriff’s Office — he replied, “I guess you just break records, Mom.”
“I just come here and try to be me and try to help Toby give us the best opportunity to win, whether we’re talking during the week, working on setups, different ideas,” said Majeski, who studied engineering at the University of Wisconsin before fulltime racing called.
That’s where big time college sports clearly needs to go. Rather than fighting steps that would lead to a players union, the UW should be doing everything it can to facilitate it. Because a union is an essential ingredient to the stability that coaches and fans want.
Minnesota-Wisconsin, as you might imagine, ranks high on the list, all the way up at No. 10. The two teams first met in 1890 and have clashed 134 times — more than any other FBS pairing — with an even 63-63-8 record between the two programs, an annual battle for Paul Bunyan’s Axe.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison announced on June 21, 2025, a lawsuit against the University of Miami for tampering with and ultimately poaching defensive back Xavier Lucas from their roster in violation of a name, image and likeness (NIL) agreement.
University of Wisconsin students will pay more for football tickets in 2025.
The Badgers are raising the price of student season tickets to $245, including a $20 service fee, the athletic department announced Tuesday. That’s $25.50 more than the $219.50 students paid in 2024, which also included the same $20 in fees.
A balloon release vigil was held at Rufus King High School in Milwaukee to honor Nate White, a former Rufus King and Badger running back who died last week.
After playing at Rufus King High School and then UW Madison, White then transferred to South Dakota State and played there for six months. Throughout his time out of state, family and friends said White kept in close contact with the community in Wisconsin.
White, a 20-year-old former University of Wisconsin football player and Rufus King graduate died June 25 at his apartment in Brookings, South Dakota, where he was a student-athlete at South Dakota State. He transferred schools in January after two years with the Badgers.
The final year of the 10-year contract between the University of Wisconsin and Under Armour, which started Tuesday, is set to deliver $4 million in rights fees to the school and $3.05 million worth of products to outfit Badgers teams.
Whether the partnership will still be in place a year from now and under what terms are issues that’ll be resolved in the coming months.
The University of Wisconsin filed its tampering case against Miami in Dane County Circuit Court. Sports law experts, however, don’t think that’s where the proceedings will play out.
Dozens of people were ejected during the two Morgan Wallen concerts at Camp Randall Stadium over the weekend, a UW-Madison Police Department spokesperson said.
UW-Madison officials are calling the two concerts put on by country music superstar Morgan Wallen at Camp Randall Stadium over the weekend the biggest in state history.
Nigel Hayes-Davis has worked his way back to the NBA.
The former University of Wisconsin star, who hasn’t played in the league since 2018, has signed a fully guaranteed one-year contract with the Phoenix Suns, ESPN insider Shams Charania reported June 30.
It’s been Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce, Mike Tyson, Pat McAfee, Tyrese Haliburton, Drake, Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Brooks & Dunn and Moneybagg Yo, among other notable figures.
Who walked out with Morgan Wallen in Madison on Night 2? Former Packers quarterback Brett Favre.
As the University of Wisconsin athletic department continues to seek additional revenue streams, it was only a matter of time before it looked at its season ticket prices for men’s basketball.
On June 30, UW started its ticket campaign for the upcoming season. In the process, the athletic department announced a two-year plan to raise ticket prices for 65% of its season ticket locations. The increases will be rolled out for the 2025-26 and 26-27 seasons.
Diego Adame just finished his freshman year at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He’s from Monterey, so he and his dad were excited to attend the match, both wearing Tigres jerseys and calling out to players they knew.
Recently, the Trump administration tried to revoke the student visas of at least 27 Wisconsin students. Adame said his visa remained valid and he tries not to worry about what could happen.
“I just put the work in with studying and that’s about it,” Adame said. “Just stay focused on the grades.”
More than 20 people were ejected from each of country music star Morgan Wallen’s concerts at Madison’s Camp Randall Stadium, on June 28 and 29, according to University of Wisconsin-Madison police.
UW-Madison police had 24 contacts at Saturday night’s Morgan Wallen concert at Camp Randall Stadium, according to police.
Country music superstar Morgan Wallen put on a performance at Camp Randall Stadium Saturday night that started and ended with fireworks.
Henry Vilas has a pair of brother badgers named after former University of Wisconsin-Madison basketball players Frank Kaminsky and Sam Dekker. The stars even visited the zoo to meet their namesakes.
“Ten years later, there are still many Madison people who visit them and recognize the names on the sign. And isn’t that cool — that it’s a badger, and they have Badger basketball names?” Peterson said.
Donning a Badgers football jersey, Wallen led the night’s final singalong in a Wisconsin name-checking “The Way I Talk.” It was a pretty good way to welcome stadium concerts back to Madison.
In a joint Instagram post, NFL legend and Wisconsin native JJ Watt and his wife, Kealia, announced the June 14 birth of Niko Benjamin Watt, their second child together.
“News of Nate White’s tragic passing has been sad and difficult to comprehend for all of the Wisconsin Badger Football family,” Wisconsin coach Luke Fickell said. “We remember Nate as a friend and teammate and we stand in support of Nate’s family and loved ones.”
A trio of trailers emblazoned with Morgan Wallen’s image arrived at Camp Randall Stadium Wednesday morning, bringing loads of sound, stage and lighting equipment for what will be the venue’s first concert in 28 years.
The Grammy-nominated country artist will perform two shows this weekend at the home of “Jump Around,” marking a historic return of live music to the stadium that last hosted a concert when The Rolling Stones performed in 1997.
The hall of fame parade for Brianna Decker continued, and there isn’t a bigger honor in hockey than the one the former University of Wisconsin star received Tuesday.
Decker will be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame as part of the Class of 2025, making her the first player from the Badgers women’s team to be an honored member.
Jack Brown is starting his first head coaching job at a time when those involved in Olympic sports are taking a closer look at their place in the NCAA ecosystem.
Brown, who’s less than a month into his role leading the combined men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams at the University of Wisconsin, understands that his sport doesn’t bring much revenue to the athletic department. The Badgers are scheduled to host only three meets in the 2025-26 season at the 1,200-seat Soderholm Family Aquatic Center.
Camp Randall Stadium will host its first concert in 28 years when country superstar Morgan Wallen performs Saturday and Sunday evening.
Former University of Wisconsin football player Nate White has died.
Details of White’s death have not yet been released. White’s death was confirmed to BadgerExtra by an official at South Dakota State, the program White transferred to in January. White was in Brookings, South Dakota, at the time of his death, the official confirmed.
