Average home-game attendance has dipped from 8,903 last season to 7,357 this year.

Small crowds aren't unusual for non-conference matchups with weaker teams, like Montana State and Cal State Stanislaus. But the Wolf Pack's Western Athletic Conference home opener against Idaho on Jan. 17 drew only 7,701 — 4,800 fewer than capacity.

Before the Idaho game, longtime Wolf Pack fan Tynan Kelly — who hasn't missed a home game in three seasons — glanced at the empty seats before venting his frustration.

"I can't understand why we can't have a sellout crowd every game," the Nevada senior told the Reno Gazette-Journal.

The newspaper reported it has received countless e-mails from Wolf Pack fans complaining about the rise in ticket prices, the lack of parking near Lawlor and the high-priced concessions. But the most common complaint has been the inability of the average fan to get a good seat when vast sections of the lower bowl remain empty.

Molly Hernandez said she tried to buy season tickets before the season began but was given the wrong forms to fill out and was misquoted on the price of her two seats. After four weeks, Hernandez decided to simply buy single-game tickets to select games.

Now, Hernandez sits "at the fricking top of the stadium" because those are the only seats available.

"It's extremely frustrating," said the 40-year-old, who has been attending Wolf Pack games since she was 7 years old. "Just once this season I'd like to sit in the lower concourse."

Bob Baker was a season-ticket holder last season, but decided not to renew when the university eliminated general admission seats. As a result, he has attended only one Wolf Pack game this season.

"I sat three rows from the top of the arena and there were like 3,000 empty seats down below me," said Baker, who added that he won't attend any more Pack games this season. "How come I couldn't get those seats?"

The reason Baker couldn't get a seat closer to the floor is because the university sold 9,768 season tickets, including the entire lower bowl and rows 1-36 of the upper concourse. Each section of the upper concourse has between 42-45 rows, so the only seats available for single-game purchase are at the upper crest of the arena.

That has resulted in a frustrated group of Wolf Pack basketball fans who say they are forced to peer over empty blue seats to see the action.

"I haven't given up on my support of the team, but I just don't think the university is very friendly toward the fans who don't have the green stuff," Baker said. "It looks to me that they are all being guided by money."

Hernandez agreed, adding: "It's almost like the university is saying, 'We don't care about the Reno fan base.'"

Keith Hackett, Nevada's associate athletic director in charge of facilities, says that is not the case and that the university cannot do much about the season-ticket no-show problem that has plagued the university this season.

He said the school will re-evaluate the number of comp and trade-out season tickets it gives away (around 1,000-1,500 each game) because the university thinks this is where many of the no-shows stem from.

"We probably have less (comp tickets) than the average school, so we don't give away a lot," Nevada athletic director Cary Groth said. "But giving away any tickets for free is too many for me."

Hawai'i, a fellow Western Athletic Conference school, started offering a re-sell option to season-ticket holders two years ago.

"I think we had a similar situation where we had certain games where the best seats were empty because of season-ticket holder no-shows," said John McNamara, Hawai'i's associate athletics director for external affairs.

With Hawaii's program, 60 percent of the re-sold ticket price goes into the season-ticket holder's account for the following season and 40 percent goes to the university.

"It's been phenomenally successful," McNamara said.

Nevada officials have looked into offering a similar re-sell option but cannot institute one until after the 2008-09 season because of an exclusive ticketing contract with Lawlor Events Center.

"It is very frustrating for us... but our hands are tied," Groth said. She said the school plans to offer a re-sell option when the contract expires.