Aztecs try to boost attendance for Mountain West opener against Hawaii with ticket raffle – San Diego Union-Tribune

San Diego State is making an effort to increase attendance at Saturday night’s Mountain West opener against Hawaii by offering season ticket holders two free tickets to share with family or friends.

SDSU season ticket holders received a similar benefit last season, but it wasn’t offered until the final home game of the season against Fresno State.

“When we talked about it this year, we wanted to do it earlier in the season,” said Ayo Taylor-Dixon, SDSU assistant athletic director for strategic communications and brand development. “That way there is a chance that the people who invite these season ticket holders to a game will hopefully have fun and come back for another game this season and next year and become season ticket holders themselves.”

Season ticket holders had until Tuesday to request tickets. Taylor-Dixon estimated there were 700 to 750 requests, potentially allowing an additional 1,500 fans to come to the game against the Rainbow Warriors.

“An increase of 1,000 is probably what you want,” he said. “I think it’s working well for us. We will be able to bring some additional people into the building.”

Attendance at Snapdragon Stadium has been disappointing in the more than two seasons since the 32,500-seat facility opened, including the first two home games of this season.

Fans only filled 56.4% of the seats this year. The announced attendance was 25,980 (18,106 turnstiles) for the season opener against Texas A&M-Commerce and 25,318 (18,580) against Oregon State.

An offseason coaching change from Brady Hoke to Sean Lewis, which increased enthusiasm for the program, likely prevented attendance from falling below last season’s levels.

SDSU’s announced average last year was 24,832 (17,023 turnstiles), with only 52.4% of seats filled. The Aztecs averaged 29,225 (21,565) during Snapdragon’s inaugural season two years ago.

The 2022 Hawaii-SDSU game drew the second-largest announced crowd in Snapdragon history at 33,073 spectators. The 25,336 spectators who came through the turnstiles represented the third-largest crowd in 16 home games at the Snapdragon.

Saturday’s game will compete with the Padres facing the Dodgers in Los Angeles in Game 1 of the NL Division Series. The first pitch will take place half an hour after the Aztecs’ kickoff at 5 p.m.

There are approximately 2,000 tickets still available for Saturday’s Aztecs game on the TicketMaster website. Ticket prices range from $38 to $228 (plus an 18% ticket fee).

Taylor-Dixon said no specific ticket promotions are planned for the next two home games of the season – against Washington State (October 26) and New Mexico (November 8) – but the Aztecs will again offer season ticket holders two free tickets to the regular season finale season on November 30 against Air Force.

“We try to keep up with the times by being agile,” Taylor-Dixon said. “We don’t want to be too stuck in one direction. When things go badly, we will react in a certain way. When things are going well, we will react in a certain way.

“But we always want to leave some wiggle room to assess what’s happening in real time and then be able to respond from there.”

The Aztecs sold 8,755 season tickets this season, falling short of their preseason goal of 9,300. The Aztecs sold 15,973 season tickets in 2022 and 10,718 last year.

Originally published: October 3, 2024 at 4:54 p.m