UGA Grad Takes On StubHub and SeatGeek With College-Focused Sports Ticket Marketplace
ATHENS, GEORGIA, October 21 (Hypepotamus) - Posts in random Facebook groups. Giant text chains. A constant refresh of a reselling website. Sitting outside the stadium and hoping somebody has an extra ticket.
College football fans have plenty of ways to find a seat to root for their favorite team. But finding one at a price they’re willing to pay, without a frustrating search or steep fees, is another matter.
CollegeSeats, a ticket resale marketplace built only for college sports, is looking to change that reality.
Adis Tucakovic (in featured photo), UGA computer science graduate, is building and scaling the platform as a solo founder. He officially launched the marketplace startup in September with football tickets at the University of Georgia. Six weeks later, Tucakovic has taken CollegeSeats to all SEC stadiums (plus Georgia Tech in the ACC) and already has thousands of tickets available on the platform.
His approach combines a narrow focus on college sports with AI tools that help him build and market the business himself. Keeping operating costs down, he says, gives him room to pass savings along to fans.
How CollegeSeats Works
CollegeSeats operates as a secondary market, meaning fans buy tickets listed for resale rather than directly from a school. Sellers set their own prices.
The platform currently advertises zero seller fees through January 31, 2027. Sellers receive payment three business days after the game, a delay designed to help protect buyers if there is a problem with their tickets.
For fans weighing their options, CollegeSeats also publishes an SEC ticket price index, which updates every hour. This, according to Tucakovic, gives fans transparency around what’s available.
“I want people to go price match,” Tucakovic told Hypepotamus, given that a ticket to a college football game can be hundreds of dollars.
Building With AI
Tucakovic has not taken outside capital so far. Instead, he is using AI tools to handle work that might otherwise require a larger team.
He sees those tools as a way to move faster while keeping expenses down. For a new marketplace trying to attract buyers and sellers during football season, that speed matters. It is one reason he expanded beyond UGA so quickly.
Tech Square Ventures is an Atlanta-based firm investing in enterprise (B2B) and marketplace technology companies.
AI is also changing how customers discover CollegeSeats, he explained to Hypepotamus.
“People don’t want to do price matching themselves. They’re relying heavily on AI agents.”
Tucakovic says a substantial share of his organic traffic starts with tools such as ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Grok, where fans are asking about the cheapest tickets for an upcoming game.
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A Business Built After Hours
Tucakovic says his entrepreneurial and business drive comes from his parents, who came to the United States as refugees from the Bosnian War.
“They fought to learn the language and build a life. They’ve become the Americans that I am proud of today,” he added. “I learned [that] you don’t wait for someone to hand you something. You have to build it.”
By day, Tucakovic works as a software developer with the U.S. Air Force. CollegeSeats takes shape around that full-time job, sometimes well into the early morning.
He laughs when admitting that building the startup has involved a tear or two at 4 a.m.
But he is already looking beyond football season. Next on his list: college basketball.
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