Fresno State football ticket sales down from past two seasons

With 28 days to go before the Fresno State Bulldogs’ Sept. 3 football season opener against Abilene Christian, the athletic department has some work to do to match season ticket sales from the past three years and an improved fan experience to sell to try to get there.

Through Wednesday, 19,030 season tickets have been sold for a six-game home slate that includes games against Utah from the Pac-12 and Mountain West Conference rivals Utah State, UNLV, Nevada and Colorado State.

The average for the three seasons under coach Tim DeRuyter is 21,646 — Fresno State sold 25,242 season tickets last season coming off back-to-back conference championships and with a home date against Nebraska on the schedule, 21,126 season tickets in 2013 and 18,572 in ’12.

In 2011, the final season for coach Pat Hill, 18,597 season tickets were sold.

“Anytime that you’re down a little bit you’re disappointed, but we think we’re going to have one of those Augusts that we’ve had in the past,” said Paul Ladwig, senior associate athletic director/external relations. “August has always been a really good month for us. People are back from the beach and the mountains and start thinking about football.

“We’re going to grind as hard as we ever have during August. Every day is going to be a ticket sale day and whether it’s the mini plan, a single game or a season ticket, we’re geared every day of this month to push football season tickets or football tickets in general.”

Fresno State is installing a new HD scoreboard in the north end zone and an improved sound system to enhance fan experience, the first phase of renovation plans outlined last month by Athletic Director Jim Bartko. The new board, which is more than twice the size of the one Fresno State installed in 2006, will include new and improved graphics, more replays, stats and scores.

“We have some things that we’re going to do totally different when it comes to what the fans have the ability to see and do, as we have the ability to engage with them during the game,” Ladwig said.

“You don’t spend the money that we’re spending to put an HD board in and continue to do the things that we’ve done in the past. We’re going to ramp up how we do what we do. I think one of the great things this year is the new Mountain West rule on replays. The league has basically said, ‘Do what you need to do when it comes to replay, minus the controversial calls or when a call is under review.’ We’re going to have more replays. We’re going to show more replays. On a touchdown, we’re going to give you as many looks as we can possibly give you and then graphically what we do and promotionally what we do, the board will be much more enhanced.”

This story was originally published August 5, 2015 at 5:54 PM with the headline "Fresno State football ticket sales down from past two seasons."