By Katelyn Weisbrod | [email protected]
The Hawkeye football team is heading to the Rose Bowl — followed by at least 22,000 of their most dedicated fans.
Tickets for the Jan. 1, 2016, game against Stanford in Pasadena, California, became available on Tuesday. The bowl allocated 22,000 tickets for Hawkeye fans, and they are in high demand.
The Hawkeyes finished their regular season with a 12-0 record — never before seen by the team. After a 16-13 loss to Michigan State in the Big Ten Championship, the Hawkeyes have a chance to redeem themselves in “The Granddaddy of Bowl Games” in Pasadena.
Pam Finke, director of ticket operations, said well more than 22,000 fans have applied for tickets. Fans who have a more priority points — a system that awards points to UI alumni, season-ticket holders, and I-Club donors — will be receive their tickets first.
These tickets range from $150 to $185, while general tickets can be upwards of $1,000.
“The Rose Bowl is like the Super Bowl for college football,” UI freshman Becca Scadden said.
Attending a bowl game is something she said she has always wanted to do, and she’s hoping to be one of the lucky ticket recipients.
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Applications for tickets are due by 5 p.m. on Thursday. Applicants will then be notified Dec. 14 whether they will receive tickets.
Finke said only about 1,000 of the ticket requests have been from students, who can request one ticket, and indicate which students they would like to sit next to. The rest of the requests have been from the public.
“I want to go because football is a fun sport to watch, and it’s great that we made it,” UI freshman Autumn Hagemaster said. “It would be a good time. We have a strong fan base, so I think we’ll have a lot of support.”
The Rose Bowl holds more than 92,000 people. The ticket office will know this weekend whether it can secure more than the Hawks’ allotted 22,000 tickets in order to fulfill as many ticket requests as possible.
Before the Hawkeyes emerged as a top-five team, September showed record-low tickets sales. Season ticket sales dropped about 10 percent from 2014.
The first game, on Sept. 5 against Illinois State, had a turnout of 59,450 people. Kinnick Stadium can hold more than 70,000 people, which made the game the lowest attended for a Hakweye opening in 12 years.
As the season went on and the Hawkeyes continued to add to their perfect record, each home game saw a fuller stadium.
Now, fans will fight for the chance to witness the Hawkeyes face Stanford on New Years’ Day in Pasadena.