CMU releases additional tickets to faculty, staff for football game against MSU

Editor’s note: The number of tickets returned and re-sold to faculty and staff has been updated.

Central Michigan University has released additional tickets for faculty and staff for the Sept. 8 football game against Michigan State, less than a week after the game was hailed as a sellout.

In an email sent out Friday, CMU athletics director Dave Heeke said a limited number of tickets are available for purchase for faculty and staff only. The tickets, priced at $55, can be purchased using a specific promotional code cited in the email.

“To ensure our closest supporters have the best opportunities to be in attendance, a limited number of quantity of tickets are available for CMU faculty and staff only,” Heeke wrote in the email.

CMU athletics announced an official sellout on Aug. 17, including allocating 10,000 tickets for CMU students and 6,400 to Michigan State. About 600 tickets have since been returned by a group, said Jason Kaufman, director of athletics communications. Kaufman said Sunday about 300 of those were sold to faculty and staff within the first 24 hours.

“If it was more than a couple hundred, it would have been handled internally,” Kaufman said. “So I guess it’s not a sellout anymore.”

Temporary seating has been installed at Kelly/Shorts Stadium for the 2012 football season, including bleachers on the south end of the stadium that are expected to accommodate an estimated 2,450 additional students. In addition, luxury suites are set up on the north east end of the stadium, expanding stadium capacity to 32,885.

An estimated 5,000 tickets were distributed to students on their CMU ID Sunday at MAINstage. The remaining 5,000 student allocation will be dispersed at Thursday’s football game against Southeast Missouri State.