Football: MSU game sold out, season tickets nearing 4,800

Tickets for the heavily anticipated Sept. 8 football game at Kelly/Shorts Stadium against Michigan State have been sold out, according to Central Michigan University athletics officials.

In addition to the single game tickets, CMU has sold nearly 4,800 season tickets according to Director of Athletics, Dave Heeke.

“With the amount of excitement from our fan base we anticipated a capacity crowd and have been planning for such,” Heeke said. “We have a great home schedule this year and there is a lot for our fans to be excited about. They have really come out in full support for one of the largest games in our history and we will have a record crowd on-hand.”

The total for the MSU game includes 10,000 tickets that have been reserved for current CMU students and 6,400 tickets allocated to Michigan State.

CMU students who attend MAINstage or the Aug. 30 football game against Southeast Missouri State will have the chance to collect a free ticket, digitally loaded onto their valid CMU ID card.

The two events will release a maximum of 6,000 and 4,000 tickets respectively to CMU students.

Kelly/Shorts Stadium has a capacity of 32,885 with the addition of bleachers to the student section and suites on the east concours this season. The three added suites on the east side of the stadium have all been sold out as well.

CMU athletics expect a record high attendance for the Sept. 8 game between the Chippewas and Spartans. The current record crowd at Kelly/Shorts Stadium was set on October 18, 2008 as 30.302 gathered to watch CMU top Western Michigan, 38-28.

Season ticket sales themselves are up approximately 1,000 from last year’s near 3,800, according to Heeke.

“Obviously the season helps with that and we hope we can continue to grow,” he said. “We still have ample tickets for the rest of the games and we hope to sell out (the Western Michigan game); we have the past two times they’ve been here.”

Heeke said the sellout is the first time that has happened prior to game day in his time at CMU.