Sales up for UH season tickets

By Stephen Tsai
Advertiser Staff Writer

Returning Warrior running back Thero Mitchell was one of the first to report for the first day of practice. Richard Ambo • The Honolulu Advertiser

What's more, because a surcharge of up to $50 was added to each season ticket in a premium area, UH will easily exceed the $3.9 million it received in gate receipts last season.

"I'm not surprised" by the strong projected sales, said Herman Frazier, UH's new athletic director. "For a person who has been on the job for exactly one week, I would tell you, as I walk around Honolulu, there is a lot of interest in our football program. Having spent time with (UH coach) June (Jones) and also talking to the incoming freshmen and junior-college transfers, there's a lot of excitement here for football."

UH sold about 24,000 season tickets for football last year. That figure was expected to drop this year because of the surcharge and the availability of live pay-per-view telecasts of Warrior home games.

Also, because the school's Board of Regents delayed in approving the new ticket prices, the sales period for season tickets was reduced to two weeks, ending Aug. 15. Last year, fans had a month to buy season tickets.

School officials said about 800 season tickets were not renewed. Still, officials expect to sell more than 24,000 season tickets.

Walk-up sales are expected to increase, especially for the Nov. 30 game against Alabama. UH has set aside 3,500 tickets for Crimson Tide fans. Frazier, who was Alabama-Birmingham's athletic director the past two years, said he is sure the demand will be greater than that.

"I know that game will be well-attended," Frazier said. "We're getting large requests for that game."

School officials also expect UH students and faculty to buy a large number of individual-game tickets. UH students are offered a limited amount of season tickets at midfield. But those season tickets are priced at $77, not including the $50 surcharge. Instead, students usually purchase individual-game tickets in the end zone for $3 apiece.