When it comes to filling the seats of Jack Trice Stadium, the formula for selling tickets is simple: Win, win, win.

And with the Cyclone football squad kicking off their season with three consecutive victories, there were plenty of fans moving through the turnstiles for Saturday’s match-up with the Kansas State Wildcats. The Cyclones lost on Saturday, 35-28.

“We had very strong walk-up sales for Saturday’s game,” said Tom Kroeschell, director of sports information. “I would say that the 3-0 start definitely had an impact on the crowd.”

A crowd of 40,057 saw the game, with just under 3,000 seats going unsold in the 43,000-seat Jack Trice Stadium.

Attendance for the first three Cyclone home games averaged 41,465, compared to an average of 33,484 per game in 1998, a year in which ISU played at Iowa. Attendance for the first three home games of 1997, which included an Iowa game and a two conference games, averaged 42,770.

Kroeschell said despite the impact the victorious record had on the Kansas State game, it’s difficult to say if Iowa State’s first victory of the season over Indiana State University affected ticket sales for the Sept. 11 home game against Iowa. It was played before a sell-out crowd.

“For the Iowa game, I really can’t say what sort of an effect the first win may have had on ticket sales, especially since it was a sell-out,” he said. “But the strong ticket sales last week and on Saturday probably indicate an overall increased interest due to the wins.”

The Athletic Ticket Office sold 1,800 tickets for the K-State game on Saturday, with a total of 3,000 tickets sold during last week.

Steve Elliott, a 1996 graduate in political science, was one of the fans who purchased a ticket on the day of the game.

“I came back to visit my friends, and I really came for the hockey game, but I got tickets on the fly for football,” he said. “A group of my friends with season tickets were going, so I figured I should go along.”

Elliott said he thought the attendance for the game was solid, and that the enthusiasm level seemed to be high coming off the victory over Iowa.

“I was also at the Hawkeye game, and everyone seemed to be pumped after that win,” he said. “I’m sure ticket sales were helped out by the team’s success. And the crowd was buzzing up until half-time, but then it kind of did what the football team did in the second half and, well, wasn’t as energetic.”

The next home game is set for Oct. 23 vs. Colorado, and the Cyclones will take on the University of Texas on Oct. 30, which is the Homecoming game.