Season-ticket sales for the Univ. of Miami football program are up by more than 6,000, which is "good news" for a program that "badly needs to put more bottoms in the 75,542 seats at Sun Life Stadium," according to Susan Miller Degnan of the MIAMI HERALD. UM Associate AD/Communications & Marketing Chris Freet said sales have jumped from 22,800 season tickets last year to an expected 30,000 prior to the Sept. 7 game against Florida. He notes that is the "largest year-to-year growth we have on record.” UM on July 26 announced it had "sold out of the single-game tickets." Freet said that UM Alumni Programs Dir Rick Remmert told him “he can’t remember a time when we’ve sold out single-game tickets as early as we did Florida.” UM will "add 1,313 seats for the UF game, the same seats used for the BCS National Championship" in January. UM AD Blake James said, "They’ll go right behind our bench and continue all the way down to the field. The game is going to be sold out.” All four tarps that "usually cover about 9,000 seats in the upper bowl for regular games will be removed for the Gators, though the tarps will likely go right back on for the other games." Freet said that the last football sellout for UM "was the 2010 Florida State game: 75,115 strong" (MIAMI HERALD, 8/22).
COCKFIGHTING: In Columbia, Neil White reported South Carolina "has sold almost 52,000 season tickets, the most since 2008 when the YES seat-donation program was implemented." Senior Associate AD/External Affairs Charles Bloom said that the athletics department "didn’t set a goal for season tickets, noting that other elements such as single-game sales, student tickets and the visiting team’s tickets also play a role in filling the stadium." Bloom: “We want to sell out all the games. That’s really the goal. We didn’t set any other goal. We’ve sold out Clemson and Florida (for single-game tickets), and we’re very close to selling out North Carolina." South Carolina has "tried to hold on to customers -- those who already have tickets and those who are considering attending a game -- by enhancing the experience at Williams-Brice Stadium with things such as the recently-upgraded video board." The school's season-ticket base has grown from 47,851 in '09 to 51,750 this year (Columbia STATE, 8/21).
COWBOY UP: In Tulsa, Kelly Hines reported Oklahoma State for the fifth time in six years "has set a record for football season tickets sold to the general public." OSU said that the total as of yesterday morning was 37,830. The previous record "set last year was 37,794." Excluding '10, OSU has "raised the bar in season-ticket sales every year since 2008." The record for "total season-ticket sales -- public and student -- is 48,876, also set in 2012." OSU's "goal for this year is 50,000" (TULSAWORLD.com, 8/21).
RECORD TO FALL? In Ohio, Bill Koch noted Cincinnati's season opener against Purdue "has a chance to set an attendance record at 35,000-seat Nippert Stadium." UC AD Whit Babcock yesterday said that the game "has not yet been declared a sellout but he’s confident it will be 'the way it’s tracking.'" Babcock: “Even if we stopped sales today, it would be the third-highest grossing revenue-producing ticket sales game we’ve ever had at Nippert" (CINCINNATI.com, 8/21).
