Tennessee appears "on the verge of snapping a prolonged stretch of declining ticket sales in its football program, already establishing a new high in the five-year history of the Tennessee Terrace area and improving in other premium seating areas," according to John Brice of VOLQUEST.com. UT already "reports season-ticket sales of approximately 59,000 -- some 1,500 more than final numbers" for the '13 season. The 1,544 Tennessee Terrace seats sold are 18 more than that area of Neyland Stadium's "previous best mark from when it came online" in '10. The new mark "reflects a 101-seat increase over each of the previous two seasons." UT "retails the Terrace seats for approximately $3,100 per ticket" for the season. UT is "showing strong increases" in all of its premium seating areas while surpassing its general-area season-ticket sales from a year ago "by more than 1,000." UT Senior Associate AD Chris Fuller said, "We had kind of been in decline since 2005, but I think we've turned the corner on that. It's a really good feeling, and we'll end up over 60,000." Fuller points to a "variety of factors" in helping UT find ticket gains, but he also acknowledges there is still "work to be done." Fuller said that the "third-party ticket sales work; the creative, award-winning marketing ventures" headed by Assistant AD/Marketing Jimmy Delaney; and, quite simply, the "frenzied, nationally driven recruiting work" of head coach Butch Jones and his football staff. Brice noted ticket sales are "trending up while UT also is raising needed money for a number of pivotal capital projects, including the all-important expanded football practice area and new student-athlete living area" (VOLQUEST.com, 7/23).
