First game at new Colorado State stadium a sellout

The first game at CSU's new on-campus stadium has officially been declared a sellout.

Athletic director Joe Parker said Monday that all 36,500 seats in the new $220 million facility have been sold or otherwise claimed for the Aug. 26 season opener vs. Oregon State. That includes 10,000 seats that have been set aside for students, who can begin reserving their tickets Aug. 15, he said.

Parker said the university assumes there will be no problem filling the student section for the game, the first Colorado State University will play on campus since 1967.

"It feels pretty special to be where we're at right now," Parker said. "You never know really what a fan-base reaction will be to open the building with a Power 5 (conference opponent) in a brand-new facility, we had high expectations. But our history in the last few years didn't guarantee that."

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CSU has sold a record 15,200 season tickets for the 2017 season, along with 2,500 mini-plan packages of three games apiece. The university stopped sales of single-game tickets for the opener just hours after it began two weeks ago after reaching the maximum of 9,800 available.

Oregon State was given 1,000 tickets to sell or distribute as part of the game contract.

Although the new stadium was designed to hold up to 41,000 fans, Parker said the university isn't planning to sell any standing-room-only tickets "because it is a first game and because it's the first time that we will have operated the building.

"Our real focus is trying to keep the experience as perfect as possible for those that have seats in the stadium, either season-ticket holders, mini-plan purchasers or those folks that were able to buy individual game tickets to Oregon State.

"We just feel like it would be a much better situation if we weren’t overtaxing all of the services. … We feel like there'll be other times to swing for the fences on a capacity number."

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An open house and scrimmage Saturday at the new stadium drew 21,447 fans. Only seven of the 22 concession stands were open for that event, creating a logjam that Parker doesn't expect to have on game days this fall. Many of the closed concession stands hadn't yet undergone required inspections by the health department, he said.

The largest crowd ever for a CSU home game was 39,107 for a 1994 game against Utah. Temporary bleachers were brought in to supplement the 32,500 seats available at Hughes Stadium for that game, and general admission tickets were sold that allowed fans to sit in the grass above both end zones.

CSU played two games in front of sellout crowds last season at Hughes, drawing 33,500 for a game against Wyoming and 32,387 vs. Utah State.

Parker said 36 season tickets were still available Monday that would allow fans to sit in the same seats for all six home games. Those seats were all in priority seating areas in the upper deck of the east stands, requiring a $300-per-seat donation to the Ram Club on top of the $225 cost of a season ticket.

Fans who have purchased mini-plans that include the Oregon State game will be given the opportunity to convert those into season tickets as well, he said.

CSU's other home games this fall in the new stadium are scheduled for Sept. 9 vs. Abilene Christian, Oct. 14 against Nevada, Oct. 28 vs. Air Force, Nov. 11 against Boise State and Nov. 18 vs. San Jose State.

Follow reporter Kelly Lyell at twitter.com/KellyLyell and facebook.com/KellyLyell.news and listen to him at 11:30 a.m. Thursdays on KFKA (AM 1310) sports.

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