Greg Byrne worked the early shift last week, hitting the “Good Morning” TV shows, not succumbing to the notion that an Arizona-UNLV game encumbered by high school football and a getaway holiday weekend would leave 10,000 empty seats.
Under previous administrations, Arizona did what it could not to play at home on Labor Day weekend, which is often box office poison unless you are Alabama or Penn State.
When the UA’s athletic director went home Thursday, Arizona had sold 46,000 tickets. What more could he do?
He had made an unprecedented Ticket To Success summer tour, visiting a myriad of Southern Arizona businesses, from Raytheon, the Arizona Builders’ Alliance and Northwest Medical Center to trendy 21st century firms like Simpleview.
Those at Northwest Medical Center bought 16 season tickets after Byrne’s visit. Normally that number might’ve been zero.
But ticket sales seemed stalled at 46,000 in a city not known for walk-up purchases unless the opponent is USC or Oregon.
But on Friday, Arizona sold 4,000 tickets, boosting opening day attendance to 50,103, creating a big-game environment at Arizona Stadium. Zona Zoo was absolutely packed, at about 8,800. Security people actually had to stop admitting late-arriving Zona Zoo students because every seat was full.
Rich Rodriguez noticed.
“It was as good as I’ve seen since I’ve been here,” the Arizona coach said.
Byrne had mobile ticket sellers, equipped with computer gear, walking all of the tailgate areas on Friday. That’s a first at Arizona. He offered upper deck seats for $10 and end-zone seats for $17. His conference-low $99 season ticket package sold out, filling seats that are usually empty.
“Our platform is that every person, one by one, makes a difference, and that was evident tonight,” Byrne said late Friday. “We got the walk-up crowd we haven’t been getting for a few years.
The six remaining games on Arizona’s home schedule are more appealing than Friday’s opener. From 2004 to 2010, the Wildcats averaged more than 50,000 per season and then, poof, the market cooled.
Now, after a diligent marketing campaign, the UA seems to be in position to make football night at Arizona Stadium the place to be.
On Thursday, ASU drew just 52,133 against Weber State, leaving about 16,000 empty seats at Sun Devil Stadium. That was a negative variable for the nation’s 19th-ranked team, one that enters the season with a big-name quarterback, one whose coach openly talks about championships.
RichRod departed his postgame press conference a few minutes before midnight saying, “it’s another beautiful night in Tucson, Arizona.”
And this time it meant more than just beating up UNLV 58-13.
