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Football season ticket sales are lagging slightly behind last year at this point but University of Hawaii officials say they are hopeful of eventually exceeding the 2015 total to reverse a four-year spiral.
As of Tuesday’s close of business, UH said 12,533 season tickets had been renewed for the 2016 season.
Officials said that represented an 82.2 percent renewal rate, topping a 74.7 mark from the same week last year when 12,878 had been sold. “Obviously we were dealing with a lower base,” athletic director David Matlin said.
With more than three months to go before the Sept. 10 home opener at Aloha Stadium, UH said it hopes to top the total of 15,238 season tickets sold in 2015, the fewest in more than 30 years.
Coming off five consecutive losing seasons, Matlin said, “Obviously we have a lot of work to do as far as getting headed back in the right direction.”
But UH said in an email it was encouraged that “An additional 190 season tickets have already been sold to current season ticket holders who have requested to add seats.”
UH noted, “Again, numbers are very fluid at this point” saying it had “picked up another 88 season tickets (renewals and new sales)” in the space of one day.
Season-ticket sales have slid considerably since 2008 when UH sold 27,705 as part of its “Backin’ McMackin” campaign with the hiring of Greg McMackin following the departure of June Jones after the Sugar Bowl season.
The UH record, 36,150, was set in 1986.
Season tickets are a key financial pillar for the athletic department, making up about 70 percent of football ticket revenue. In some years they have accounted for as much as 10 percent of overall athletic department revenue.
Boise State is the marquee opponent on the Rainbow Warriors’ six game home schedule. UH’s three games against Power Five conference opponents, California, Michigan and Arizona, are in Australia, Ann Arbor, Mich., and Tucson, Ariz.
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