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It is amazing what investing in the program and a few key wins will do. Our friends at Gold and Black Illustrated published an update on season ticket sales for the 2019 football season yesterday, and the news is good:
According to Purdue director of ticket operations and analytics Brian Fordyce, staff and general public season ticket sales were in the 21,500-range at the start of the week. And there are over two months before the first home game—September 7 vs. Vanderbilt—so there is plenty of time to sell more tickets.
“And I think we’ll go over 10,000 for student ticket sales,” said Fordyce. “We were 10 last year. Our goal is 10,500 this year.”
Tom Dienhart goes on to say that Purdue is on track for its highest season ticket sales mark since 2007. So far Purdue has sold 21,425 season tickets, and this year even I helped out with the expansion. Since my son is now 6 he can no longer get a free 5 and under pass to sit with my parents in Shively, so I upped my season allotment from two tickets to three for the first time.
This decade the most general public season tickets sold was in 2013 when it sold 24,415, so we’re less than 3,000 away from that mark.
As far as overall attendance goes, here is a breakdown of the last few years:
Purdue Football Attendance
| 2016 | Attendance | 2017 | Attendance | 2018 | Attendance | 2013 (Hazell year 1) | Attendance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Attendance | 2017 | Attendance | 2018 | Attendance | 2013 (Hazell year 1) | Attendance |
| Eastern Kentucky | 32,074 | Ohio | 45,633 | Northwestern | 47,410 | Indiana State | 50,165 |
| Cincinnati | 33,068 | Michigan | 60,042 | E. Michigan | 47,661 | Notre Dame | 61,127 |
| Nevada | 41,607 | Minnesota | 42,085 | Missouri | 48,103 | Northern Illinois | 54,258 |
| Iowa | 40,239 | Nebraska | 41,411 | Boston College | 47,119 | Nebraska | 47,203 |
| Penn State | 33,157 | Illinois | 46,027 | Ohio State | 60,716 | Ohio State | 51,243 |
| Northwestern | 30,548 | Indiana | 52,105 | Iowa | 60,716 | Iowa | 41,038 |
| Wisconsin | 30,465 | Wisconsin | 46,114 | Illinois | 37,459 | ||
| TOTAL | 241,158 | TOTAL | 287,303 | TOTAL | 357839 | TOTAL | 342493 |
| AVERAGE | 34451.14286 | AVERAGE | 47883.83333 | AVERAGE | 51119.85714 | AVERAGE | 48927.57143 |
The average attendance of 51,000 last season was a huge boost, and up almost 17,000 per game from the dismal 2016 season. At a conservative estimate of $50 spent per additional fan on average (tickets, concessions, parking, etc.), That is an additional $850,000 in revenue per game, and $5,950,000 over the course of the season’s seven games. Both the Ohio State and Iowa games were sellouts last season.
After selling just 12,168 season tickets in 2016 it has taken just three years for Brohm to nearly double that number.
For the record, today partial season flex plans go on sale, so GO BUY TICKETS! It is the last chance to get seven home games until 2023.