In Boston, Julian Benbow notes Boston College expects a "strong crowd" at Dublin's 51,000-seat Aviva Stadium on Saturday for its game against Georgia Tech. But Experience Gaelic Games Dir Cormac O’Donnchu said that the game "essentially will be the undercard that day." The Gaelic Athletic Association is "expecting more than 82,000 fans to be on hand at Croke Park for the hurling all-Ireland senior championship" (BOSTON GLOBE, 9/2).
POTATO SKINS: Boise State AD Curt Apsey said that between 19,500 and 19,600 football season tickets "have been sold." Apsey: "We're about 93 percent of our goal. ... I'm not going to lie, we're a little behind, but we're not giving up." In Idaho, Dave Southorn noted Boise State "sold approximately 21,500 season tickets" last season (IDAHO STATESMAN, 8/30).
CAUSE AND EFFECT: In Reno, Chris Murray noted Nevada's football season-ticket base has "gone from 11,352 fans last season to 9,751 fans this year," a decrease 14.1% in one calendar year. However, this year's smaller season-ticket base will "create more revenue than last year's base." That "oddity is a result" of the $11.5M renovation of Mackay Stadium this offseason. The addition of a "new club level and seven sections of chair-back seating came with an increased ticket cost," and some season-ticket sections "increased by as much" as 84%. With Mackay Stadium's capacity "shrinking" -- the current estimate is 26,000, down from 30,000 -- the 9,751 season-tickets sold this year (37.5% of the stadium's capacity) "takes up roughly the same amount of the stadium as last season" (37.8% of the capacity) (RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL, 9/1).
HELP THY NEIGHBOR: In Cleveland, Jennifer Conn noted the Akron football program last season "drew only 55,000 fans," the lowest attendance among all FBS programs. That is why the City of Akron is teaming up with the school to "boost community engagement with the university, its athletic programs" and InfoCision Stadium-Summa Field. The city is "including coupons in Akron's utility bills to buy general admission tickets to university athletic events." Akron AD Larry Williams said that the school "wants to build" on the team's '15 Idaho Potato Bowl win. The athletics department this week also "brought on board a new marketing and promotions director" (CLEVELAND.com, 8/30).
