In spite of a 1-11 mark in 2011, IU Athletic Director Fred Glass announced significant increases to IU's football season ticket sales Thursday night.
Glass said that as of August 2, approximately 26,033 season tickets have been purchased, the most overall sold in over 20 years. At this point in time only one year ago, only 21,961 season tickets had been purchased for the 2011 season.
"I was holding my breath a little after a 1-11 year on how our public season ticket sales would hold up," Glass said. "I'm thrilled that we're ahead of where we were last year."
Part of the spike in season tickets sales has been from students, who have purchased over 12,000 since they were made available in April with a combination package with men's basketball tickets. Though football tickets are still available, the combination option is no longer viable as men's basketball student season tickets have sold out.
"I think in a variety of ways, fairly visible and fairly behind the scenes, basketball is helping football," Glass said. "Kevin (Wilson)'s buddies say, 'Well why are you going to a basketball school?' He's like: 'I'm not going to a basketball school, I'm going to a great school whose basketball program has matched the greatness of the university. Now the football team needs to do the same thing."
Glass does admit however that football season ticket sales are at a ceiling, and that the only way to improve on the numbers is for wins to come on the field.
"We're going to continue to try to have the greatest experience in and around the stadium that we can have," Glass said. "We're confident that the play on the field will soon be on that level as well."
Students can still order football season tickets for $30 and/or be placed on a wait list for men's basketball tickets by calling the IU Ticket Office at (866) 487-7678.
