The ISU football team has been showing steady improvement the past two seasons, and the ISU ticket office is starting to follow suit.

“We’re taking the next step in the e-commerce business,” said Dave Crum, athletic ticket office manager.

Iowa State will unveil a new online purchasing system that will allow students to renew their football season tickets via the Internet. The registration will be available 24 hours a day.

Along with being able to renew season tickets for the 2002 season, students will be able to purchase additional tickets for any of the Cyclones home or away games.

“Students can buy tickets for their friends or their parents at the same time,” Crum said. “We’ll then try to get those seats as close to the student section as possible.”

The new service will provide instant confirmation of the purchase and there is also a prize giveaway. Prizes include autographed footballs and jerseys. For the first 500 students that renew online, the $5 processing fee will be waived.

Crum said there is a brief trial period “for [students] who bought tickets last year” and that the general public has already been able to take advantage of this new software provided by Paciolan.

Crum said the company also provides for all but one team in each the Big Ten and Pac-10.

“Our fans are doing a great job of embracing this,” he said, noting that 40 percent of the general public that had season tickets last season has renewed for the 2002 season.

Of all the other schools using the system, Iowa State’s 40 percent renewal rate ranks sixth in an unofficial survey by Paciolan.

Crum said Western Michigan, Michigan State, Virginia Tech, Wisconsin and Brigham Young are the top five schools in season ticket renewals.

The program is available on the ISU athletic Web site, www.cyclones.com. Students can also renew their tickets the conventional way – by mail.