Iowa State is winning its battle against Florida State in the Eddie Robinson Classic – at least at the ticket office.

ISU athletic ticket manager David Crum said his department has sold approximately 22,500 tickets for the Aug. 24 football matchup against the Seminoles at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Mo.

Meanwhile, the athletic ticket manager at Florida State, Patrick Martin, said the school has sold somewhere between 3,000 and 4,000 tickets for the game.

Crum said the proximity advantage that Iowa State fans have is the was the key to outselling Florida State.

“Our fans have definitely stepped up,” Crum said. “We had people buying in large blocks and that definitely jumps the numbers up quickly.”

Crum said the ticket sales exceeded his expectations. He was also very encouraged by the number of student ticket sales for the game – 2,400.

The new Internet ordering system implemented by Iowa State on it’s athletic Web site has helped increase effectiveness of the athletic ticket office, Crum said.

“This is the first year that we’ve done a fully integrated Internet system,” Crum said. “We’ve been able to service our customers much better and keep up with the orders.”

The ISU athletic ticket office will no longer sell tickets to the game. Fans must now go through Ticketmaster starting July 1. Orders will be taken by phone or via the Internet at ticketmaster.com.

Martin said the slow sales weren’t a surprise to him because it was a new venture for the school.

“I really had no idea what to expect,” Martin said.

“We really haven’t played in that area of the country to my recollection, and I’ve been here for seven years. It’s uncharted waters for us.”

Martin and Crum both declined to estimate where the final numbers would come out.

Martin said that the school has been allotted in the neighborhood of 10,000 to 12,000 tickets on a consignment basis for the game.

This differs from bowl game ticket sales, where schools must buy the tickets they don’t sell from their allotment.

Crum said these early ticket sales numbers can be deceiving because many fans chose to buy their tickets from sources other than the school’s athletic ticket office.

He said his office sold between 10,000 and 12,000 to each of the last two bowl games, but estimated that over 20,000 ISU fans made the trip to Phoenix, Ariz. in 2000 for the Insight.com Bowl.

If the trend of slow ticket sales continues it will be a big step down for the Seminoles, compared to the number of tickets purchased for their recent bowl games.

Martin said the school sold out its allotment for the last four bowl games, including last year’s Gator Bowl.

He said they sold approximately 12,500 tickets for that game, held in Jacksonville, Fla. – less than three hours away from the FSU campus in Tallahassee.

Martin said between 15,000 and 17,500 tickets were sold for each of the previous three bowl games.