No. 25 Fresno State sees hottest ticket sales in years ahead of Boise State game
No. 25 Fresno State plays Boise State on Saturday, but there is a game within the game as the Bulldogs push toward their first sellout since the 2014 home-opener against Nebraska.
Can they get there?
The game against the Broncos was already a hot ticket in town and, on Saturday afternoon, before the Bulldogs gained control of the West Division in the Mountain West Conference with a 30-20 victory at San Diego State, 33,500 tickets had been sold.
By Monday morning, with Fresno State back in the national rankings in the Associated Press Top 25, that number was up to more than 35,000, and students had yet to sell out their ticket allotment.
Those student tickets have sold out the past two home games and, if they go again, that will push the number of tickets to 36,000 to 37,000, leaving about 3,000-plus tickets available to public sale as of mid-day Monday.
The game against the longtime nemesis Broncos will be the highest attended game at Bulldog Stadium this season – Fresno State had 26,043 for its opener against UConn, 30,119 for Cal Poly, 35,093 for UNLV, and 33,012 for Nevada.
But Fresno State is hoping to sell out for Boise State and have the atmosphere a crowd of 40,727 would bring to another must-win game in the division race.
The Bulldogs, 4-1 in MW play, hold a tiebreaker advantage with head-to-head victories over Nevada and San Diego State, which are tied for second at 3-1. But to maintain its lead, the Bulldogs need to win on Saturday, then next week against New Mexico, and on Thanksgiving Day at San Jose State.
The largest crowd at Bulldog Stadium since 2014 was 39,447 for a game against Incarnate Word in 2017 when the athletics department retired jersey No. 4 in honor of record-setting quarterback Derek Carr and coach Jeff Tedford made his debut at his alma mater.
Fresno State has had just one game with 36,000 since – San Diego State in 2018 drew 36,123.
This story was originally published November 1, 2021 at 11:00 AM.