West Virginia season ticket sales sagging
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) – The Atlantic Coast Conference’s raid on the Big East has claimed another casualty: West Virginia’s season ticket sales. West Virginia officials say the Big East’s cloudy future has suppressed this year’s preseason football ticket campaign noticeably. But they expect sales to rebound after the Mountaineers begin practice Monday afternoon.
About 23,000 season tickets were sold through July, athletic director Ed Pastilong said. Last year, West Virginia sold about 27,000 season packages total through the start of the season.
Fans were reluctant to invest this summer while the Mountaineers’ conference crumbled. The Big East’s top two football programs, Miami and Virginia Tech, bolted for the ACC in June, leaving six schools and raising questions about the league’s long-term viability.
The Big East’s turmoil “has slowed them (ticket sales) down,” Pastilong said. “Now, the media is talking about the Quincy Wilsons, the Grant Wileys and the Rasheed Marshalls, and the ticket sales will catch back up. Each day that we get closer to the Wisconsin opener will create interest.”
Both full and partial ticket packages are included in season ticket sales. A season ticket costs up to $196 for the entire seven-game home schedule; four-game mini-packages are $115. The Mountaineers open the season at noon Aug. 30 against Wisconsin.
“July normally is a slower month … but sales resurge as soon as camp opens,” deputy athletic director Mike Parsons said. “We’ll be right where we were last year.”
The conference shakeup also has West Virginia hamstrung as it searches for two opponents for 2004 to replace the Hurricanes and Hokies, Pastilong said.
The Big East will play with seven football members in 2004, Pastilong said. West Virginia has agreements to play non-conference home games against Maryland (Sept. 11) and East Carolina, and the Mountaineers will travel to Central Florida.
Pastilong and Parsons want WVU to play a marquee opponent from a power conference in a nationally televised game, but they acknowledge difficulties in setting up such a game on short notice.
According to newspaper reports last week, Auburn is searching for a seventh home game in 2004 after Bowling Green backed out. And Virginia Tech has expressed interest in maintaining its series with West Virginia next season, and reviving it in 2009 and beyond.
“Once our conference situation is settled, then we would be receptive to discussions with (Virginia Tech) with regards to future games,” Pastilong said. “We are not in a position today to make commitments until our conference determines if we’re going to operate with” eight or nine football schools, he said.
The Big East has targeted 2005 for expansion, Pastilong said, and West Virginia is holding vacancies in that season’s schedule for the league’s potential invitees.
“It’s important to us to give consideration to the schools that have expressed interest in joining us so that they can make adjustments,” said Pastilong, who declined to name the schools.
AP-ES-07-31-03 1426EDT