Football ticket sales on a record pace

PULLMAN — Officials at Washington State are touting this season’s football ticket sales, which are moving at a pace well ahead of previous seasons.

Thanks in large part to three consecutive 10-win seasons, the Cougars have sold 15,216 season-ticket packages as of Friday, up 16 percent from last year at the same date. With student sports passes included, about 27,000 of the 37,600 Martin Stadium seats will be claimed for the season.

Sales are also ahead of last year’s pace for the Cougars’ home game in Seattle. Last season, 50,113 people watched Washington State beat Idaho, and this year more than 37,000 tickets are already sold for the Sept. 11 game against Colorado in Qwest Stadium.

“We’re ahead of all past years selling, and we’re looking really great for our home season here in Pullman,” WSU Director of Athletics Jim Sterk said. “We have very few tickets for each of the games. So if people want to watch Cougars live, they need to get on the stick and call before the season starts.

“It’s not surprising, but it’s a welcome result of the past years of success.”

Sterk added that sales have been strong enough for the Apple Cup against Washington on Nov. 20 that it’s likely no tickets will be available for the general public. The same, he said, could be true for the game on Oct. 30 against defending national champion USC.

Last season, the Cougars averaged 33,331 fans in five home games, not including the game played in Seattle.

Sterk also pointed to the future and a possible Martin Stadium expansion. This year’s sales — even with the team picked to finish in the middle of the Pac-10 and many new starters in the lineup — are an indication that boosting capacity could be feasible, he said.

“We’ve done some master planning with the stadium and this gives us all the more reason that we in the future would add some more seats,” Sterk said. “Not a huge amount, but we think we can add more and that would help us in our annual revenues. Those give us a solid base to build upon for the future.”

Hurd, Price reunited

Former WSU quarterback Chris Hurd has landed with Mike Price, transferring to Texas-El Paso.

Hurd was recruited to the Cougars while Price was still head coach, but the highly regarded recruit rarely saw the field with WSU. Hurd completed 7 of 10 passes in four games from the 2002 season, but was passed over in an open competition this spring by both Josh Swogger and redshirt freshman Alex Brink.

The Antioch, Calif., native was called the top quarterback in Northern California coming out of high school by Prep Star Magazine. Hurd will have to sit out his junior season with the Miners before becoming eligible again.