Ferentz Live Today

March 26, 2008

• UI Athletic Ticket Office: Football 2008
• Pre-Pay Football Parking Program
• Big Ten Network: Free Hawkeye Video
• 24 Hawkeyes to Watch
• gohawks.com

IOWA CITY – University of Iowa football coach Kirk Ferentz will meet the media today at 12:30 p.m. (Iowa time), an event that officially kicks off the 2008 spring practice schedule for the Iowa Hawkeyes.

The spring session will conclude for the Hawkeyes on Saturday, April 19, when the UI stages its annual spring practice at 1 p.m. historic Kinnick Stadium. On Friday night, the UI will officially kickoff spring game weekend with the staging of the first annual Blackberry Gridiron Bash inside Kinnick featuring two-time Grammy Award winner Kelly Clarkson, current Miss Iowa and former UI Golden Girl Diana Reed, the UI Marching Band, pom pon and dance squads, Herky and current and former Iowa Hawkeyes.

Ferentz’s media conference today is available online to subscribers to Hawkeye All-Access, the multi-media space inside hawkeyesports.com, the official world wide web site of the Iowa Hawkeyes. To learn more about Hawkeye All-Access, click HERE.

The UI Athletics Ticket Office is currently accepting orders for season tickets to the home games of the 2008 Iowa football team from fans of the Hawkeyes who purchased general public or UI faculty/staff season tickets for the 2007 season.

Fans who want to renew their season ticket order online can do so now by logging into their UI Athletics Ticket Office online account. Click HERE to go to that page inside the online UI Athletics Ticket Office.

All persons who purchased general public or UI faculty/staff season tickets a year ago will also receive a renewal application in the mail next week. The deadline for renewal orders is Thursday, May 1.

The 2008 Iowa Hawkeyes play seven home games inside historic Kinnick Stadium. The schedule includes four games against Big Ten Conference opponents – Northwestern, Wisconsin, Penn State and Purdue – and three non-conference games – Maine, Florida International and Iowa State.

Season tickets to the home games of the 2008 Hawkeyes cost $339 for the general public and $275 for UI faculty and staff.

The UI Athletics Ticket Office will begin accepting orders for season tickets from current UI students in early April. The cost of a season ticket for current UI students will be $154. UI students will also have the opportunity to purchase the “official” t-shirt for the 2008 season for $5 when placing their season ticket order.

Fans of the Hawkeyes – both members of the general public, and current and new UI faculty and staff – who did not purchase season tickets in 2007 but are interested in purchasing season tickets for the 2008 season will have that opportunity in early May if season tickets are available for purchase after the renewal process is completed. The UI sold more than 56,000 season tickets in 2007.

The UI will enter the 2008 season with a string of 30 consecutive sellouts of historic Kinnick Stadium.

The UI Athletics Ticket Office will announce plans for single-game ticket sales in late May.

Fans of the Hawkeyes purchasing season tickets will also have the opportunity on their online or “hard” ticket application – the one received in the mail – to pre-pay for parking inside UI-managed parking lots on football game days.

All season ticket customers who have access to priority parking lots as a result of their annual contribution to the National I-Club will be required to pay for their game-day parking when making their 2008 season ticket purchase; no financial transactions will take place at the entrance to priority parking lots on game days.

As in previous years, only individuals with the appropriate pre-paid parking placard will be allowed entry into reserved parking lots (priority parking lots) managed by the UI. A priority parking placard does not guarantee parking in a specific lot but is required for entry into parking lots adjacent to/or near Kinnick Stadium.

Fans of the Hawkeyes who purchase season tickets who do not have access to priority parking lots will also have the option on their ticket application to purchase pre-pay game-day parking for “non-contributor lots” including Finkbine Commuter, Finkbine Golf Course, Lower Finkbine, the UI Softball Complex, Ramp 4 and Myrtle Avenue. However, as in the past, all of these lots will continue to be filled on a first-come, first-served basis and a pre-paid parking placard does not guarantee a parking space in a specific lot.

Click HERE for the Big Ten Network home page.