UTSA Could Break Start-Up Football Program Attendance Record In Opener

August 19, 2011 / Football
KENS5.com, San Antonio, David Flores

http://www.kens5.com/sports/spotlight/Look-for-crowd-of-at-least-50000-to-watch-UTSAs-first-football-game-128020498.html

It’s a question San Antonio sports fans have been asking since UTSA announced the schedule for its first football season in school history.

How big a crowd will the Roadrunners draw for their inaugural game Sept. 3 against Northeastern (Okla.) State at the Alamodome, where UTSA will play its home games?
 
I’ve been asked that question more than any other – and quite frequently, I might add – when the subject of UTSA football has come up in conversations with people throughout the San Antonio area.
 
From the get-go, I said the Roadrunners would get anywhere from 45,000 to 50,000 into the dome for their first game. The Alamodome has a seating capacity of 65,000.
 
While there’s no question UTSA’s first football game will mark a seminal moment in the city’s sports history, it also will be a “happening” San Antonians will want to be a part of, even if they aren’t Roadrunners fans or follow college football.
 
With the opener two weeks from Saturday, UTSA officials are expressing confidence the Roadrunners have a realistic shot at breaking college football’s single-game attendance record for a modern-day start-up program.
 
South Florida set the mark with a crowd of 49,212 on Sept. 6, 1997, when the Bulls beat Kentucky Wesleyan in their inaugural game.
 
Based on the numbers coming out of UTSA, the Roadrunners are well on their way to eclipsing the record.
 
“We’re close to the 45,000 mark and we’re going to do better,” UTSA athletic director Lynn Hickey said this week. “We’re going to reach out to community leaders, and see if they’ll help us.”
 
Here’s the math: UTSA already has sold about 29,000 tickets, including 10,000 season tickets, and has reserved another 15,000 seats for students.
 
Throw in the walk-up crowd – and San Antonio fans are noted for waiting until game day to buy their tickets – and you can see why South Florida’s record is almost certain to fall.
 
McCombs leading charge to fill Alamodome
 
Considering the push business and civic leaders are making, the crowd for UTSA’s opener easily could climb to 55,000 or more. Iconic San Antonio businessman B.J. “Red” McCombs has said he plans to buy 1,000 tickets to distribute to people.
 
Never one to think small, McCombs has made it clear he wants to fill the Alamodome to capacity on Sept. 3.
 
Look for other businessmen to step up and help the cause at a UTSA football kickoff breakfast sponsored by the Greater San Antonio Chamber of Commerce on Friday morning at Stonewerks Stone Rock Grille at The Rim. The event begins at 8:30.
 
“I think everyone’s excited,” Hickey said. “I think we have a lot of momentum. We still are trying to do some special things, marketing-wise, to get the word out because we want to keep pushing to the very end. We’d love to try to fill the dome.”
 
UTSA football coach Larry Coker has said time and again that he’s been impressed with the support his fledgling program has gotten in San Antonio and throughout South Texas.
 
“The people have been great,” Coker said. “They’re excited about UTSA football and going to the Alamodome to see us play.”
 
Given San Antonio’s history as a big-event town that loves to celebrate, that could happen. If I’ve learned anything about the people in this great city since I moved here 32 years ago, it’s that their pride in San Antonio runs deep.
 
If UTSA can tap into that pride, Roadrunners football very well could be The Next Big Thing on the San Antonio sports landscape.
 
Credit Hickey and UTSA president Ricardo Romo for their leadership and vision in selling UTSA football to the university’s students, who made the dream a reality by voting twice for increases in student fees that made it possible to add the sport to the athletic program.
 
Hickey’s nervous anticipation is palpable wherever she goes.
 
“Every day, I wake up with butterflies in my stomach and I go to bed with butterflies in my stomach,” she said. “Not because of fear, but because of anticipation and it’s fun. I don’t think it’ll soak in until probably game time, or maybe after the game, that ‘Oh, my God. We did it. It’s happened and it was great.’”


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