Jack Trice Stadium’s new look will include a sold-out south end zone this season.

In a reorganization that moved the marching band to the north end zone – adjacent to the student section – the athletic department sold season tickets in the 2,800 seat south end zone for $99. The last of the seats were sold Thursday, a result that left the athletic department ecstatic.

“I think we were pleasantly surprised and thrilled,” said associate athletic director Steve Malchow. “When you create new inventory, you have to fill it. We made that our No. 1 goal – to bring in new fans.”

Malchow said the move wasn’t about making money, but rather to get fans into the stadium.

“Any time you are not sold out, you need to expose your product any way that you can, and now that we have them in there, we want to get them here next offseason,” Malchow said.

Football coach Dan McCarney said the sold-out stands will have a great impact on the atmosphere of the stadium, especially when the away team is backed up on the south end of the field.

“That’s part of the home-field advantage is to have your fans on top of the other team. Let’s put them down there, get them backed up, and now we have all that south end zone down there on top of them making noise,” McCarney said.

Malchow also said the athletic department is expecting more than 30,000 people to buy season tickets, which would be a new record for ISU football.

“We now try to renew the season ticketholders from a year ago,” Malchow said.

“That number is more than 27,000, and if we are successful, more than 30,000 will hold season tickets for the first time in Cyclone football history.”

McCarney echoed that sentiment.

“It’s exciting, it’s a lot of fun and we had a great response last year, and I’d be very disappointed if we don’t sell at least 30,000 this year,” McCarney said. “I think we can and we will.”

With a potential for a record number of season tickets sold, McCarney said he believes the fans are really stepping up.

“I think they’re fantastic, and I love them,” McCarney said. “They have a lot to do with the success of our team, and they are the pulse of our stadium when we come out here.”

The idea was based on the efforts to sell tickets for the Colorado game last season, in which remaining tickets were sold for $10 in the weeks preceding the game.

“The end result was a great atmosphere,” Malchow said. “If you are going to open the gates, you want to get as many people in there as you can.”

McCarney said he wants the atmosphere of all games to match the atmosphere of last year’s big games.

“Anything we can do to get the kind of environment we had for Iowa State-Iowa, Iowa State-Colorado. We’ve had a lot of success in recent years at home, and we’ve built up a great tradition of success,” McCarney said.

“Players, coaches, television people, bowl people, they don’t want to see empty seats when they come watch college football games. I think it was a great marketing idea by [Athletic Director] Jamie Pollard and his staff.”