Stoops, Sooners proud of their season-ticket holders, sellout streak
Published: 8/30/2011 5:09 PM
Last Modified: 8/30/2011 5:09 PM
NORMAN — On Monday, a day after Oklahoma State announced it had set a record for football season ticket sales by selling 45,695 (one more than the mark set in 2009), Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops opened his press conference with another, larger number.
“I’d like to first start by sort of recognizing and thanking our great fan base,” Stoops said. “We’re going on, I was reminded today, this (Saturday’s opener against Tulsa) is our 75th straight consecutive sellout. It’s really pretty amazing when you’re averaging over 71,000 season-ticket holders and we’re told there’s well over 10,000 people waiting to buy season tickets (beyond) 71,000.”
Oklahoma’s head-to-head dominance in the Bedlam series (82-16-7) and the Sooners’ overall historical excellence (43 conference championships, seven national championships) in football — the state’s sole bread-winning sport — is enough for Sooner fans to brag on for another hundred years at least.
But when reporters walked into the Stadium Club just before noon on Tuesday to peruse the usual stacks of OU notes, opponent notes and Big 12 notes, there was a fourth pile of reading material. At the top of the handout, a huge number “75”, and below, a list of attendance accomplishments and historical perspective in which the Sooners rightfully take pride.
* More than six million fans attended the first 74 games of the streak.
* The Sooners’ average attendance is 81,444 during the sellout streak.
* The largest crowd of 85,646 jumped around for the ’08 Tech game.
* The Sooners are 72-2 at home under Stoops, which includes a nation-leading 36 consecutive victories.
* Memorial Stadium capacity has grown from 72,726 in 1999 to 82,112, with average attendance growing from 74,664 to 84,738.
OSU has taken some public-opinion bruises since athletic director Mike Holder instituted a "premier game" policy whereby only season ticket purchases get fans admittance to one certain game each year. It's a policy that seems to have benefited the overall health of the OSU athletic department, but has also kept attendance numbers from maxing out at prime-time games.
Stoops never mentioned Holder's policy or Oklahoma State. But he didn't have to. Oklahoma promoting its sellout streak is a shrewd public relations move that pumps up the OU program and also pays tribute to Sooner Nation.
“I just want to thank them,” Stoops said. “Sometimes it goes unsaid. But being here in front of our program, that’s really a great and loyal fan base and we appreciate ‘em and thank ‘em for being here. I’m just gonna encourage ‘em to be loud and continue to affect games. We’ve had a great record here through the years, and hopefully they’ll continue to take part in it as they come follow us.”
— John E. Hoover
Written by
John E. Hoover
Sports Columnist
