Season Tickets in Short Supply

June 9, 2006

• Read about Iowa’s 2006 recruiting class
• Follow the renovation of Kinnick Stadium
• The Schedule: 2006 and beyond

The pace of sales of season tickets to the home games of the nationally ranked 2006 University of Iowa football team will likely result in the fifth consecutive year of increased sales and a suspension of season ticket sales, the UI Department of Intercollegiate Athletics announced today.

The 100-day process of providing all 2005 general public and UI faculty and staff season ticket customers the opportunity to select new seat locations inside historic Kinnick Stadium was completed Thursday. The more than 12,000 customers selected more than 40,000 seats in the east, west, north and south grandstands of the stadium and the premium seat opportunities inside the new press box at Kinnick Stadium.

The UI sold 40,340 general public season tickets in 2005.

The UI expects to sell all 10,400 seats reserved for purchase by current UI students and has already sold approximately 3,800 season tickets to approximately 1,400 current and retired UI faculty and staff.

“To say that we’re excited and delighted is an understatement,” said David Sandstrum, the UI’s director of ticket operations.

“We’re running a little ahead of the projections we put on the table a month or so ago and we have some inventory available for new contributors to the National I-Club and members of the general public. I do, however, expect to reach the point where we simply can’t accommodate a request for a season ticket.”

The UI Athletic Ticket Office will begin selling season tickets to new members of the National I-Club next Tuesday (June 13) based on their level of giving and will conclude that process on Friday (June 16). If available, season tickets will go on sale to the general public on Wednesday, June 21.

Sandstrum said the increased demand in season tickets paired with a reduction in the number of seats available for sale as a result of increasing the width of the seats in the east and west grandstands to match that provided fans in the north and south are the source of the squeeze on inventory.

Sandstrum said the UI will likely need to cap season ticket sales in order to accommodate a variety of annual single-game needs of the UI and the UI Department of Intercollegiate Athletics.

“The UI Alumni Association, for example, each season invites its membership to one game. The UI Athletic Department has some single-game obligations to its multi-media partner that will occur each season. These needs create the opportunity for purchases of tickets on a single-game basis,” said Sandstrum.

Another source for single-game tickets are seat locations not used by the visiting team. The UI will provide each team visiting Kinnick Stadium 4,000 tickets to sell to its fans. Most of the seven teams coming to Iowa City this fall will not sell all of that allotment to their fans and will return the unsold tickets to the UI.

A third source for single-game tickets is the purchase of ticket and game-day hospitality inside Hawkeye Village. Typically, a group of 40 or more is required to access this inventory. Fans of the Hawkeyes interested in this option should contact the UI Sports Marketing Office at (319) 335-9431.

Sandstrum said the UI plans to begin sales of single-game tickets in early July. He said that fans will not have access to tickets for Iowa’s games against Iowa State, Ohio State and Purdue.

“Those games are sold out. We’re also going to be very limited in inventory to the game against Wisconsin when single-game sales begin,” he said.

Iowa will celebrate the completion of its $89 million renovation of historic Kinnick Stadium on Saturday, Sept. 2, when it entertains Montana in the first of seven home games to be played by the Hawkeyes during the 2006 season. The UI will also entertain non-conference opponents Iowa State and Northern Illinois, and Big Ten Conference rivals Ohio State, Purdue, Northwestern and Wisconsin.

UI officials expect all seven home games in 2006 will reach sellout status. Iowa will enter the 2006 season with a string of 17 straight home games played before sellout crowds.

THE UNIVERSITY OF IOWA
2006 Football Season Tickets – New Customers

The following outlines the plan of the UI Athletic Ticket Office for new season ticket customers now that the process of providing 2005 season ticket customers the opportunity to select new seat locations inside Kinnick Stadium has been completed.

Tuesday, June 13
Current Kinnick Society and Champion Hawk contributors to the National I-Club may order tickets.

Wednesday, June 14
Current Golden Hawk contributors and above to the National I-Club may order tickets.

Thursday, June 15
Current Silver Hawk contributors and above to the National I-Club may order tickets.

Friday, June 16
Current I-Club, Century Hawk and Bronze Hawk and above to the National I-Club may order tickets.

Wednesday, June 21
If available, 2006 University of Iowa football season tickets will go on sale to the general public.

For more information about membership in the National I-Club, click HERE.