Kinnick Stadium may have some empty seats this football season — but low—price ticket deals may be the University of Iowa’s solution.
The Hawkeye Athletics Tickets Office on Tuesday informed student season-ticket holders of a promotion for the upcoming game against Northern Illinois. According to the release, all student season-ticket holders will now be able to purchase a single game student-guest ticket for $40.
The promotion became available after student season-ticket sales were not sold out. For the past five seasons, the Athletics Tickets Office has sold out every student season ticket, which can be up to 10,371 season tickets.
As of 5 p.m.Tuesday, ticket manager Pam Finke said approximately 7,500 tickets have been sold, and there are up to 3,000 season tickets that are still available.
Steve Roe, the director of athletics communications, said student ticket sales were down by 1 to 2 percent from last season.
However, he said students continue to buy tickets each day.
“We are selling tickets to Saturday’s game and the rest of the home games at a good pace,” Roe said “We are confident that they are going to get sold, and we are selling tickets and continue to sell every day.”
Finke said that this promotion is available to any UI student regardless of whether he or she is a season-ticket holder.
“We are offering this to our student season-ticket holders or any UI students,” Finke said. “They may buy a $40 ticket and bring a friend to the game with them, or if a UI student doesn’t want to buy the full season but wants to come to Saturday’s game, he or she can do so.”
The student-guest ticket will allow guests and UI students to sit in the student section at Kinnick Stadium.
In the last five seasons, the cost of student season tickets have risen from $154 to $175.
The price of football tickets make some students wary about purchasing them.
“I wish I had gone [to a game], but it was very expensive, so I would just drop it,” UI junior Zhuozhi Huang said. “I think if the price was acceptable — like if it’s about $20, then I think it would be acceptable.”
Regardless of the lower ticket sales, some students with season tickets are looking forward to the upcoming games.
“I’m excited because I’ve never been to an Iowa football game, and I’m excited to go to other sporting events with my friends,” UI junior Samantha Mueller said.
Although there is no formative answer to why ticket sales have been down, Finke said, there could be a number of reasons.
“In the past, we’ve started the season with Iowa State, and the school year is starting a little later,” she said. “Media coverage isn’t as heavy as the last couple of years.”