Citing the impact of a down economy, the University of Hawai'i said it expects to sell about 15 percent fewer football season tickets for the upcoming season than it did last year.

With three weeks until the Sept. 4 season opener against Central Arkansas, UH said yesterday that 20,835 season tickets have been renewed and there have been sales of 1,377 new season tickets for a total of 22,212.

Last season, at the same point UH said it had 20,468 season tickets renewed plus 5,712 new sales in its very successful "Backin' McMackin" campaign.

"Based upon the data I've been getting over the past couple of months, I thought we'd come in down somewhere between 10 and 15 percent (this year)," said Jim Donovan, UH athletic director.

Both totals do not include student sales which will start next week when school begins. Last year, UH said it sold 1,519 student tickets for an overall count of 27,699. It was believed to have been the most since 1992 when UH sold 28,356.

Entering the summer, UH had forecast as much as a 10 percent drop. Going in, "ticket sales were a little bit of an unknown because these are probably the worst economic times Hawai'i has seen since statehood," Donovan said.

"We are hopeful that our (individual game sales) will help make up the difference," he said. "We have a good home schedule with Wisconsin, Navy, Boise State, Fresno State ... but a lot of it depends upon our win-loss record and, frankly, also the records of the teams coming in. We understand that."

Football season ticket sales are the largest source of revenue for the athletic department. Its 19-team program operated on a $28.34 million budget, and is expected to report a $2.58 million deficit for the fiscal year that closed June 30.

Season ticket sales are continuing and UH said it will begin selling individual game tickets Monday.

Season tickets can be purchased online at www.HawaiiAthletics.com, at the Stan Sheriff Center Box Office (Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.) or by calling 944-2697 during the same hours.