Tickets for BSU football are 'flying out the door'
Season-pass sales of 15,000 already have set a record
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Details on BSU football tickets
• Season tickets: They range from $94 to $183 for adults, and from $47 to $60 for juniors. Some premium seats require Bronco Athletic Association memberships ranging from $120 to $850 per pair. Family plans cost $248 for two adults and two juniors.
Season tickets are available at the Athletic Ticket Office in front of Bronco Stadium. The office is open 10 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Monday-Friday. The phone number is 426-4737.
• Single-game tickets: They range from $25 to $32 for adults, $23 to $30 for seniors and $13 to $17 for juniors for the first three games; prices drop to $14-$23 adults, $12-$20 seniors and $8-$14 juniors for the final four games.
Individual tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. Aug. 19 at
http://www.idahotickets.com only. They go on sale at all other Select-a-Seat outlets and the Athletic Ticket Office at 10 a.m. Aug. 23.
Related Links
BroncoSports.com - Ticket Information
Chadd Cripe
The Idaho Statesman | Edition Date: 08-11-2004
Boise State has sold or set aside more than two-thirds of its football tickets for the much-anticipated 2004 season.
The Broncos, who play seven games at home with three of them on ESPN or ESPN2 on Friday nights, already have set a school record by crossing the 15,000 mark in season-ticket sales.
Add in the 5,000 tickets per game held for students, and more than two-thirds of 30,000-seat Bronco Stadium is taken for every game.
Season-ticket sales will continue for nearly two more weeks. Individual-game tickets go on sale Aug. 19, and the season opener is Sept. 4 at Bronco Stadium against Idaho.
"This week tickets are flying out the door," ticket manager Anita Guerricabeitia said. "There's a lot of demand."
The Broncos are reaping the benefit of clearly the greatest home schedule in school history. It includes archrival Idaho and Western Athletic Conference rivals Fresno State and Hawaii, all likely to generate huge crowds.
Plus, regional powers Oregon State and BYU promise to bring significant numbers of fans to Boise with them.
Oregon State owns 2,800 tickets to the Sept. 10 game on ESPN and wanted more, Guerricabeitia said; BYU took 2,000 for the Sept. 24 tilt on ESPN.
Bronco fans without season tickets may have a hard time getting tickets to either contest.
She recommends the nearly sold-out family plan ($248 for two adults and two juniors) and end-zone seats ($94 adults) for cost-conscious fans who don't want to risk the free-for-all on Aug. 19.
"There is not going to be a lot of availability," Guerricabeitia said.
The schedule could allow BSU to break school records for average attendance (28,098 in 2003), sellouts in a season (three in 2002) and single-game attendance (30,924 in 2002 vs. Fresno State).
The two-time defending WAC champions finished the past two seasons in the Top 25. The Broncos are strong candidates to do it again — beginning the season at 28th in the USA Today/ESPN Coaches' Poll.
"Hopefully we can sell out every home game," senior co-captain Chris Carr said. "In the past, we only sold out against the supposed big schools. It would show a lot if the community comes out and supports us no matter who we're playing or how bad we've been blowing out teams, because we're a program that's been a Top 25 team."
The schedule's benefits are many — from one bottom line (winning percentage) to the other (budget).
For starters, the Broncos have won 18 straight at Bronco Stadium — the longest such streak in the nation — and 32 of 33. That's why some people are mentioning the "u" word.
Undefeated.
"The thing we have to fight against is we can't think, 'Oh, we haven't lost a (home) game in three years, this is a win,' " Carr said. "You've got to get out of that mode."
With lofty expectations comes pressure, but senior linebacker Andy Avalos isn't worried that his team will get overwhelmed.
"I'm glad we've got seven home games," Avalos said. "It doesn't put pressure on us, because we're so comfortable playing at home."
The person most happy about the schedule might be athletic director Gene Bleymaier. Football revenue is one of the most fickle sources in his budget, so a spike this year could help when he plans a 2005-06 budget around six home games that lack the marquee nature of this slate.
The extra money also will cover rises in costs like scholarships, salaries and travel.
"Just because you make it all, you can't spend it all," Bleymaier said. "You need to let it spread over a two- to three-year period. A lot of our revenue sources are pretty steady, but that's not the case with football."
The more important, and less measurable, effect could come from the exposure the university and program get.
For example, the Broncos have a nearly 90 percent retention rate for season-ticket holders, Guerricabeitia said. If that continues, most of the ticket holders the Broncos pick up this year will return next year even with a less-attractive schedule.
And outside the Treasure Valley, millions of people will be exposed to the Broncos, Boise State University and Idaho through the TV broadcasts. They are potential football recruits, basketball recruits, students, professors, tourists and home-buyers.
"It's hard to put a price tag on the exposure," BSU football coach Dan Hawkins said. "It's a positive for everybody in the city, the state, the university, the football program. In marketing, people just try to get their brand name out there as many times as they can."
That's why the Broncos aren't taking this schedule for granted. They have bought extra ad space on local billboards and time on radio and TV to build on the community's excitement.
"We could make a huge statement this year," said Curt Apsey, associate athletic director for marketing. "... The national exposure the football team is giving Boise State is that advertising buy that we cannot afford."
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