CHRIS CODUTO/Arizona Daily Wildcat Education junior Katie Higgins pays for her ZonaZoo pass yesterday afternoon at the Gallagher Theatre box office. The passes are $40 and give purchasing students priority in the men's basketball ticket lottery.

Officials hope to sell 10,000 'Zoo' passes

Coming off the worst season in the UA football program's history, it surely seems logical that the UA would be looking to reach the all-time student season ticket sale record.

Right?

It's true. The athletics department hopes to sell 10,000 Zona Zoo passes - which give students admission into football games as part of the $40 package price - after selling about 7,500 last year and just 2,500 season tickets in 2002. The school record of about 10,000 came in 1994 when the Wildcats were Sports Illustrated's preseason No. 1 pick, coming off a 29-0 win over Miami in the Fiesta Bowl earlier that year.

Arizona was 2-10 (1-7 in the Pac-10) last year and 4-8 (1-7) in 2002, but the athletics department still expects to see a jump in student ticket sales in head coach Mike Stoops' first year.

"Nine thousand - 10,000 - up from 7,500 last year would be a great number, and I think that is very realistic with the excitement of the student body over coach Stoops," said James Francis, director of marketing for the UA department of intercollegiate athletics.

Last year, much of the jump can be attributed to tying football student season tickets to entry into the lottery for men's basketball season tickets but officials expect this year's jump to be primarily due to the buzz surrounding the football program.

"Obviously the way the pass is set up and the opportunity to get into the basketball lottery has something to do with that, but I'm going to look last year at the Oregon game," Francis said. "You look across the way at the student section at the Oregon game; it was 8,000-plus, and that has nothing to do with basketball. The students love big-time college football, and we've got a big-time college football coach and I think they're excited."

Chris Del Conte, senior associate athletics director for sports programs and operations, said the student-run and student-initiated Zona Zoo has surpassed the athletics department's expectations.

"The Zona Zoo is a fabulous opportunity because the lottery is just open to the Zona Zoo members for men's basketball for $40 and they get admission into every sporting event," Del Conte said. "It is awesome for them. That's the best deal in America."

The students are hardly the only UA fans to catch Stoops fever. The non-student season ticket sales are up to nearly 25,000, up from about 20,000 last year.

Zona Zoo Pass Cost: $40 Passes can be purchased at: Gallagher Theatre Box Office, 11 a.m. - 3 p.m. Online at ArizonaAthletics.com

"Things are going really well and we're going far exceed what we got last year," Francis said.

The school record for total season ticket sales set in 1994 at about 38,000 - which included student ticket sales.

In 2001, former head coach John Mackovic's first year, total season ticket sales were about 25,600.

Another reason for increased student interest could be other activities tied to the spirit card.

ASUA spirit director Amber Harryman said the Zoo is planning on expanding more from last year by taking interested students on a road trip to the Wildcats' game at top-ranked Southern California Nov. 13, and organizing events such as dinners with coaches like Stoops, men's basketball head coach Lute Olson and baseball head coach Andy Lopez.

"We want to take as many students as possible," Harryman said of the proposed trip to Los Angeles.

Harryman plans on having a Zona Zoo tailgate this season and starting a program called "Bear Down Bandits" to keep track of who goes to events such as Zona Zoo nights and possibly reward them in some way.

Francis said the student section is a little over 10,000 seats and "as that's need that could possibly expand and that could happen."

Harryman was also excited about the new red shirts that come with the pass. Last year the shirts were unconventionally blue, considering the trend among UA fans to wear red to games.

"The shirt was voted on and designed by students, that was a huge improvement because I know there was a lot of concern over (wearing) blue in the past, so now they're red. That was what students wanted so (the athletics department) was eager to do that this year," Harryman said.

ASUA plans to expand the Zoo's Web site - zonazoo.arizona.edu - which will have scrapbooks of photos at games and opportunities for students to submit ideas. The Web site should be updated in a couple weeks, Harryman said.

"We're just trying to have more students heard through athletics; that's our job," Harryman said. "We're always looking forward to hearing about more things, because we've had tons of submissions where students say, 'Hey, I want to see a Red Out,' or, 'Hey, I want to go on a road trip, or, 'I want a poster.'

Students can buy a ZonaZoo pass online at arizonaathletics.com, by phone at (520) 621-CATS or (800) 452-CATS, in person at the McKale Ticket Office and at the Gallagher Theatre in the Student Union Memorial Center on weekdays from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Single-game tickets for UA students not in the Zona Zoo are $7, and go on sale Saturday. The deadline to purchase a Zona Zoo pass and still get into the basketball ticket lottery is Sept. 17.