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Saturday, New Mexico football returns to sa国际传媒官网网页入口 鈥� and the hope is that the fans will, too.

As of Thursday, UNM assistant vice president and associate athletic director Dave Williams told the Journal approximately 13,000 tickets have been distributed for New Mexico鈥檚 home opener against Tennessee Tech. Given sa国际传媒官网网页入口鈥檚 history as a walk-up market when it comes to ticket purchasing, he鈥檚 expecting a game day crowd of 鈥渟omewhere in the 17,000s鈥� with day-before or day-of sales factored in.

鈥淩ight now, roughly 80% of every ticket that is sold is bought digitally,鈥� Williams said. 鈥淰ery few people now actually walk-up to our box office and buy the ticket. Their first choice is online sales, their second choice is phone call and their third choice is walk up and buy in person.

鈥淥n game day, online sales (are) still the most popular way of purchasing a ticket, which is great because it cuts down on lines to buy the tickets.鈥�

Of the 13,000 already distributed, Williams said 500 tickets allotted for players and coaches鈥� guests are included in that figure. He did not have an estimate for other percentages of that figure dedicated to corporate sponsorships, regular fan purchases or other partnerships.

Williams added that 11,000 tickets have already been distributed for next week鈥檚 New Mexico-New Mexico State game, annually the most attended home game on a year-to-year basis while still fitting the walk-up trend. Williams added that season ticket sales aren鈥檛 up this season but remain steady compared to what the athletic department has seen since he joined UNM in 2019.

鈥淐ould be a few percentage points higher, could be a few percentage points lower, but (it鈥檚) a very typical number for Lobo football since I鈥檝e been here,鈥� he said. 鈥淵ou try to get 80% renewed and you try to find 20% in new sales and that gets you to that pretty steady number.鈥�

For the home opener, promotions have ranged from usual efforts such as Cherry Fridays, a ticket giveaway at participating Albertsons the day before home games, to new methods, such as buy-one-get-one-50%-off ticket packages.

Williams said they鈥檝e had traction selling Tennessee Tech tickets half-off if a fan buys corresponding tickets for another home game, an effort that fits UNM鈥檚 overarching promotional strategy for 2023.

鈥淲hat we realized this year is that our schedule really goes by the month: There are two home games in September, there are two home games in October and there鈥檚 two home games in November,鈥� he said. 鈥淎nd so we鈥檙e trying to really group those together 鈥� what kind of promotions for New Mexico State and Tennessee Tech together? Then we鈥檙e gonna tackle San Jose State and Hawaii.鈥�

Then there鈥檚 the lure of an enhanced in-game experience. Williams said UNM has been focused on providing an excellent experience in University Stadium 鈥渇rom the moment they arrive to the moment they leave,鈥� through new light shows, concession items and pyrotechnic features.

Winning doesn鈥檛 hurt, either.

鈥淲hat last year in basketball showed us and proved us (right) again, because we鈥檝e always thought this, if you win in this town, they鈥檒l show up,鈥� Williams said. 鈥淪o we plan on having a great experience with concessions, music, parking and ticketing, all those things that we can control. And if the team wins and continues to win, our attendance will show up more throughout the year.鈥�