Univ. of Minnesota officials are "wrestling with a slide in season-ticket sales in another high-profile sport -- men's basketball" after spending the fall "looking at thousands of empty game-day football seats at TCF Bank Stadium," according to Mike Kaszuba of the Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE. Non-student season-ticket sales at Williams Arena have "fallen from 9,286 in 2007 to 7,136 this year, and student season-ticket sales have also slumped," with the current number of 1,182 sold "at a six-year low." Lowered fan interest "might have been accelerated this year by a new, expanded season-ticket plan that charges fans an additional $400 preferred seating fee for a $627 season ticket." Minnesota AD Norwood Teague said, "We may have had a little bit, a small amount, of attrition. I'm confident we can turn this around." University officials said that after "selling 10,248 student season tickets for football in 2009, the team's first season in on-campus TCF Bank Stadium, they sold only 3,888 this year." University officials said that new revenue raised by the preferred seating program instituted this year was "about $815,000 for men's basketball ($401,000) and men's hockey ($414,000)." Athletic Communications Dir Garry Bowman said that the increased revenue from the two sports is "close to making up for the loss in ticket revenue resulting from the drop in season tickets" (Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE, 12/19).
