The Univ. of Iowa football team last season played in its first Rose Bowl in 25 years, and the "glow is lingering," as nearly two-thirds of single-game tickets for the upcoming season are spoken for, according to Mark Emmert of the DES MOINES REGISTER. Iowa Senior Associate AD/Revenue & External Operations Matt Henderson said that more than 44,000 season tickets "have been sold." That includes a 98% renewal rate "from last year’s contingent of 36,200 public and faculty/staff season-ticket holders." They "have been bolstered by 4,800 new season-ticket holders among the public and 4,000 from the student ranks." It is a "predictable turnaround from a year ago, when season-ticket sales lagged" by 16% after a "five-year stretch of mediocrity." The home schedule this season "includes traditional rivals Wisconsin and Nebraska," and the fan base "is responding." A three-game package of tickets for $195 "resulted in 1,600 sales in just over 24 hours" Monday and yesterday. The student season-ticket number "is already two-thirds of what it was last year (6,000) with July orientation, a big time for sales, still to come." Henderson is "confident that last year’s average attendance of 63,142 will be easily eclipsed in the 70,585-seat stadium" (DES MOINES REGISTER, 6/29).
