text:
2001 13,100
2002 14,000
2003 11,267
2004 13,856
2005 12,756
2006 14,207
2007 12,024
2008 10,209
2009 9,668
2010 9,524*
*as of Wednesday.
2005: $2.3 million ($2.5 million budgeted)
2006: $1.9 million ($3 million budgeted)
2007: $1.89 million ($2.25 million budgeted)
2008: $1.425 million ($1.775 million budgeted)
2009: $1.397 million ($1.496 million budgeted)
2010: $1.394 budgeted
Note: The 2009 sales included 3,240 "season tickets for kids" priced at $5 per game. This year's include a similar amount, though the exact figure was not available.
A public relations firm based in La Mesa has been making about 350 telemarketing calls per day, four days a week, for the past two months.
Their mission -- to drum up season ticket sales for San Diego State.
Results so far aren't great. The most recent reported paid football season ticket sales are 9,524, as of Wednesday, down from 9,668 last year, and the lowest since at least 2001, the oldest year The San Diego Union-Tribune has on record. This year's and last year's number both include about 3,200 season "tickets for kids" priced at $5 per game.
"The fruits of the labor will show up once there's success on the field," SDSU Athletic Director Jim Sterk said. "If the team shows promise, then I think all the things we're doing -- the advertising, the calling, e-mails -- that will pay dividends down the road. It won't all show up right now. We have a decade of losing seasons, so people are kind of wait-and-see. But I think all of that will pay off when we make progress, which I think we're going to."
SDSU has a 13-month, $40,000 contract with Trilogy PR Group of La Mesa to increase season ticket sales in Aztec sports. SDSU students and alumni have been making the calls Monday through Thursday and have heard from many potential customers that they wanted to "wait and see" how the team fares before considering a purchase, according to the firm. Season tickets have slid 33 percent since 2006, the first season under coach Chuck Long, who was fired in 2008. The Aztecs open the season at home Saturday against Nicholls State of Louisiana.
"I think in two weeks, let's say the Aztecs are 2-0 in a couple of weeks, now all of a sudden the calls may be received a little different," said Scott Alevy, a principal of the firm. "People like a winner. People like a bandwagon."
In a proposed call script, the firm has responses for possible reasons a potential customer might give for not being interested.
A prospect might say, "But there isn't anyone exciting on this year's schedule," according to the proposed script.
In that case, the proposed script says the response from the telemarketer would be: "I know you'll be excited when you see our alma mater go up against a perennial bowl team like Utah right here in San Diego..."
Alevy said his callers have received "a lot of interest in basketball." But football is the most expensive sport at SDSU and is supposed to drive revenue growth. Instead, SDSU athletics faces a $1.5 million deficit and endured another round of layoffs this summer. Because of sluggish sales, it has failed to meet ticket sales revenue projections every year since at least 2005. This year, SDSU is making its lowest ticket revenue projection since at least 2005: $1.394 million. Four years ago, SDSU was projecting $3 million in football ticket sales for 2006.
Season opener
What: SDSU vs. Nicholls State
When: 5 p.m. Saturday
Where: Qualcomm Stadium
TV: none
Radio: 600-AM
"We needed to build some credibility as far as on campus, with our budget, so I wanted to budget conservatively, live within our means and overproduce if we have that opportunity," said Sterk, who was hired from Washington State in February. "When I was at Washington State, just my last year did not come under budget. I'm a big one on making sure we budget conservatively on the revenue side and stay within our budgets. Our donors, the campus and others -- we have to show we're responsible in doing that."
Increased football sales would help solve that. It also would give second-year head coach Brady Hoke something he's been pushing for in the offseason. In May, he told a boosters group that if "we don't put people in Qualcomm (Stadium), our kids would rather play away (on the road), because there's more people."
SDSU attendance has fallen from 28,336 per game in 2004 to 17,622 last year, according to turnstile counts.
"We're a Division I college football team in San Diego," Hoke said last week. "San Diego State has (thousands) of graduates in San Diego. I wish they'd support the kids because these guys work too hard not to be supported."
Players plan to make their own case.
"I think we're going to be an exciting team, and I think we're going to win some games," offensive lineman Alec Johnson said. "When we start winning, I think the fans will come. I definitely think that."Copyright © 2017, The San Diego Union-Tribune