Marchin'

Sept. 15, 2006

Editor’s Note: Scroll to the bottom of the page to check our progress!

IOWA CITY — The UI Department of Intercollegiate Athletics will officially kick off its “March to a Million” Saturday when the nationally ranked University of Iowa football team entertains Iowa State in the annual Hy-Vee Cy-Hawk Series battle for gridiron supremacy in the state of Iowa.

Kickoff is set for shortly after 11 a.m. inside historic Kinnick Stadium and another sellout crowd of 70,585 will be in attendance.

The UI will track attendance at all home events in football, men’s basketball, women’s basketball, volleyball, wrestling, softball, baseball, men’s and women’s gymnastics – all events that either season tickets or single-event tickets are sold – and will track attendance at a group of “March to a Million” events in other varsity sports at the UI.

The UI will also track traffic inside the UI Athletics Hall of Fame, rounds of golf played at Finkbine Golf Course, and participation in select activities of the National I-Club. The target is to reach the goal of a million participants prior to Aug. 24, 2007 – one full calendar year after the Iowa volleyball team’s victory over Drake on Aug. 25, 2006. That event was the first intercollegiate athletics competition staged this fall by the UI.

“The University of Iowa recently announced its plan to share with its friends `Remarkable’ achievements of our institution. For the first time in our history we have the opportunity to actively engage a million fans of the Hawkeyes in the activities of our intercollegiate athletics program,” said UI Director of Athletics Gary Barta.

“We believe that `Marching to a Million’ promises to be fun for all involved from fans of our programs to the student-athletes who compete on behalf of our institution. It’s also important and worthwhile to set goals and benchmarks and this activity also accomplishes that,” said UI Director of Athletics Gary Barta.

When the final whistle blows on Saturday’s football game at Kinnick Stadium, the UI will already be more than 10 percent to its goal. Iowa will have played its 19th straight sellout game inside historic Kinnick Stadium, a per-game total of 70,585 fans. Double that total to include Iowa’s sellout crowd against Montana and another 4,471 fans who have attended the first six home matches of Coach Cindy Fredrick’s UI volleyball team – including the school record 1,690 that watched the five-game battle with Iowa State – and fans of the Hawkeyes have already marched to the tune of 145,641 beats.

“We’ll need to hit a few `home runs’ to get to a million,” said Rick Klatt, the UI`s associate athletics director for external affairs.

“For example, it would be great to have 10,000 or so in Carver-Hawkeye Arena for our women’s basketball team’s games against Louisiana Tech and Iowa State if not others, too. It would also be good to get 10,000 or so there for the wrestling meets against Iowa State and Minnesota.”

Klatt said the “March to a Million” program will attempt to showcase the teams and student-athletes at the UI that don’t’ routinely land on page one of the sports section.

“We have talented student-athletes throughout the lineup of sports programs. We also have many new facilities that we also want friends of the UI and fans of the Hawkeyes to come and enjoy. We hope this program helps achieve those goals as well,” said Klatt.

Will there be a lucky fan who is No. 1 million? Yes. Will that lucky fan win something “remarkable?” “You bet,” said Klatt, adding that details of that selection process and what the winner will receive will be announced later this fall. Fans attending each of the designated “March to a Million” events will have a chance to win a variety of prizes at those events as well, he added.

“We want it to be fun. We also want to challenge everyone involved in our department to reach beyond their grasp and to invite our fans to come to our venues and our activities and become even more personally involved in all of our programs than they currently are,” said Klatt.

THE IOWA HAWKEYES AND THEIR FANS
MARCH TO A MILLION

Sunday, October 8 — Iowa Field Hockey vs. Northwestern
Friday, October 20 — Iowa Soccer vs. Indiana
Sunday, October 29 — Iowa Rowing – Head of Iowa
Friday, November 3 — Iowa Volleyball vs. Illinois
Saturday, November 11 — Iowa Football vs. Wisconsin
Wednesday, January 3 — Iowa Women’s Basketball vs. Purdue
Saturday, January 20 — Iowa Men’s Swimming vs. Ohio State
Saturday, January 20 — Iowa Women’s Swimming vs. Illinois
Sunday, February 4 — Iowa Men’s Gymnastics vs. Minnesota
Wednesday, February 14 — Iowa Men’s Basketball vs. Northwestern
Sunday, February 18 — Iowa Wrestling vs. Minnesota
Friday, March 2 — Iowa Women’s Gymnastics vs. Southern Utah
Sunday, March 25 — Iowa Women’s Tennis vs. Ohio State
Saturday, March 31 — Iowa Men’s Tennis vs. Penn State
Saturday, April 14 — Iowa Softball vs. Michigan
Saturday, April 21 — Iowa Men’s Track – Musco Twilight IX
Saturday, April 21 — Iowa Women’s Track – Musco Twilight IX
Sunday, May 20 — Iowa Baseball vs. Michigan