The University of Hawaii had distributed about 25,000 tickets as of early Monday and is hoping brisk walk-up sales and strong student demand push its season-opening football crowd above 30,000, officials said.

UH said it has sold 20,203 season tickets, with the remainder being individual game sales and corporate sponsor tickets for Saturday’s nonconference game with Lamar University.

Totals do not include student tickets, of which UH has agreed to make up to 5,000 available per game in exchange for the $50 student athletic fee it collects each semester.

UH has had just one home opener turnstile crowd under 35,000 in the previous five years, Central Arkansas (33,298) in 2009.

UH said 661 individual game tickets have been sold for the Sept. 22 Nevada game and 564 for the Nov. 10 Boise State game.

In an effort to build student attendance for the opener, UH has announced several initiatives, including a Wednesday pep rally at the Gateway dorm at 6 p.m. and Hale Aloha Tower cafeteria at 6:30 p.m. A Thursday noon pep rally will be held at Campus Center.

UH said it will again provide free bus transportation to Aloha Stadium for students.

Meanwhile, UH is expected to open as a 23- to 25-point favorite when the betting line is posted for the Lamar game, according to Las Vegas oddsmakers.

The game was not listed among early odds released Sunday and Monday.

A spokesman with Las Vegas Sports Consultants, which sets lines for several casinos and sports books, said the game would be considered what they term an “extra game.”  

Lines for higher-profile games, considered “board games,” are already set, and second-tier “add-ons” are being posted.

But because Lamar is from the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision, a classification below the Football Bowl Subdivision that UH plays in, not many of its games end up on the betting lines.