Arizona football season tickets are selling strong, and the athletic department hopes to fill most of the stadium with season tickets alone.

Season ticket sales are going "fabulous," said Chris Del Conte, Arizona senior associate athletic director, as the UA is hoping for close to 35,000 total season tickets sold, including student tickets. Last year the UA sold close to 30,000 total season tickets, he said.

"As far as season tickets overall, we can't complain," he said. "We've already surpassed last year, and we are heading into a monumental year."

The Arizona record for total season ticket sales was set in 1994, when the Wildcats were coming off of a 29-0 rout of Miami in the Fiesta Bowl and was a Sports Illustrated preseason No. 1 pick. The UA sold 38,000 overall season tickets that year and about 10,000 student season tickets.

Last year the average attendance at football games jumped to 50,111 - close to capacity in the 56,002-seat Arizona Stadium - which was an increase of 7,300 from 2003. The Wildcats' average attendance jumped from No. 50 in Division I-A in 2003 to No. 33 in 2004.

While total attendance dropped the last few years, student attendance jumped. In 2003, Arizona sold 7,500 student season tickets, a 5,000-ticket increase from the year before, when it became married to the Zona Zoo program. The total climbed more than 9,000 last season.

A Zona Zoo pass is good for general admission in the student section - sections 1 through 10 - a reserved seat in section 10 or a seat in the Red Zone, if requested, for all home football games. The pass costs $40.

Students who are not Zona Zoo members can buy single games tickets for $7 a game.

Del Conte said a lofty goal for the UA would be to sell 12,000 Zona Zoo passes this year after nearly reaching 10,000 sold last year.

"I'm sure we'll break 10,000," said Amber Harryman, ASUA spirit director. "It has become part of the culture at the U of A."

"Our student crowds are one of the best in the country, but if we could ever get to 15,000, that would be unbelievable," Del Conte said.

The popularity of the Zona Zoo student section has grown so much that this year the UA is eliminating guest passes in the student section because there is not any room, Harryman said.

"The first year it was awesome, it was a huge jump," Harryman said. "It has been really exciting to watch it grow."

Revenue from football is important to the athletics department because that money, along with the money generated from the men's basketball team, supports every campus sport. The athletics department does not receive money from the state.

Del Conte said that not having ASU or Southern California on the home schedule doesn't really hamper season ticket sales. He says the schedule is enticing with Pacific 10 Conference powers and Big Ten stalwart Purdue coming to town.

"We have a really good schedule: You have UCLA, you have Washington, you have Oregon: perennial powers in our conference," Del Conte said. "It is always good to have an anchor of ASU (at home), because it is your rivalry game, but up until the last couple of years (USC) was just a middle-of-the-road conference team."

Zona Zoo passes can be purchased online at www.arizonaathletics.com, over the phone at (520) 621-CATS or (800) 452-CATS, or in person at the McKale Center ticket office and at the Gallagher Theater.

In addition to general admission to the home football games, the other features of the Zona Zoo pass include free entry to home regular-season volleyball games, women's basketball matches, gymnastics meets, and softball and baseball games. Buyers get a free T-shirt with "Zona Zoo" emblazoned across the front.

Students also get two entries in the lottery for men's basketball season tickets for each year that they have purchased a pass.

"Students should know they have a better chance of winning the basketball lottery if they buy a Zona Zoo pass," Del Conte said. "Those are selling great."