Iowa football: Hawkeye fans buying out tickets to Arizona game

[ 0 ] August 25, 2010 | Ryan Suchomel

Single-game tickets for Iowa’s game Sept. 18 at Arizona went on sale at midnight Friday. Hawkeye fans wasted no time working the Internet.

“I get a confirmation every time a ticket sells online,” Arizona director of ticket operations Darren Graessle said. “At 12:15 a.m., they started rattling off. People were waiting to do that.”

Hawkeye fans were online late that night and all weekend. After a busy day on the phones Monday and Tuesday, Graessle said about 2,300 tickets remain for the Iowa game, and he expects the game to sell out.

The Wildcats have had sellouts in the past, but most occur the day of the game.

“We’ve maybe sold out once prior to the game,” Graessle said. “All the sellouts I’ve experienced have been the day of the game, prior to the game kicking off.

“This would be the earliest I’ve ever known it to sell out.”

Iowa declared its 2010 home season sold out Aug. 6. It is believed to be the first time Iowa completely sold out the season prior to the first game.

“It’s possible that a visiting team could return a few tickets during the course of the season,” Iowa ticket manager Pam Finke said Aug. 6. “But, at this time, we have not tickets to sell for home games, and I truly don’t expect to have any as the season progresses.”

Iowa is coming off an 11-2 season and is ranked No. 9 this preseason. Other road games include trips to Michigan, Indiana, Northwestern and Minnesota.