In an otherwise forgettable college football preview issue for ESPN the Magazine (disclaimer: I have a free subscription with my ESPN Insider account) there was one useful little factoid. The % breakdown of the student section size of each home stadium for each conference. In the Big East, as a % of the stadium capacity, Pitt sits at 5th with 15% (WVU is 1 with 21%). In terms of student section size, Pitt is 3d behind WVU and USF.

The fact is, that as much as the on-the-field product has been shaky the last few years, the fans in the stand have matched it. If the coaches and players are expected to be much better this year, it is incumbent on the fans to again match.

The athletic department has been doing what it can. It has aggressively kept the prices for tickets and season tickets low and even cut the real costs a bit. It has paid off in more ticket sales.

Pitt has sold about 12,000 more season tickets this year than last year, but the athletic department still has some work to do to reach its goal of selling out Heinz Field for every game.

A little more than 34,000 season tickets plus an additional 7,000 student season tickets have been sold, athletic director Steve Pederson said. Heinz Field’s official capacity for college football is 65,050, but the most season tickets Pitt could sell is around 55,000. About 5,000 tickets per game are held for opponents and another 5,000 for corporate sponsors.

In 2003, the only time Pitt has sold out its season ticket allotment, 42,544 non-club season ticket packages were sold, along with 10,000 student ticket season packages and about 5,100 club seat season packages for a total of 57,644– about 16,000 more than this season.

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Pederson is optimistic that with the fan initiatives and the Rib Fest, the crowd Saturday will be close to 50,000. He said the 3,000 remaining allotted student season tickets are still “selling like crazy.”

Pitt is offering a special deal for those who purchased a single-game ticket ($25) for the opener. They will be allowed to roll that price into a season-ticket plan ($99) and purchase the remaining five games for $74.

“We know there are people out there still trying to feel us out and that plan sort of gives them a chance to come and see us and then decide,” Pederson said. “We’re hopeful that they have a good time and like what they see and then decide to buy the rest of the season.”

The athletic department is doing a lot of stuff before the game to try and create a better atmosphere that will get the students down to the stadium and want to be there.

With that in mind, Pederson issued a directive to his staff to discover what Pitt’s students wanted, and athletic department officials met with members of Student Life and Pitt Program Council for feedback. That led to an aggressive marketing plan with fan-based initiatives intended to give students a greater voice at games.

For one, Pitt will transport students directly to the North Shore instead of Downtown this year until 90 minutes before kickoff. There, they will have the “Great Lawn Tailgate.” The university has purchased 75 portable grills and is offering $24 tailgate packs for students to have cookouts in the grassy area next to Jerome Bettis’ 36 Grille, a short walk to Heinz Field.

Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt was excited to learn of the initiatives, knowing that a strong student presence will add to the atmosphere at the game and help the Panthers recapture the game-day traditions he experienced at Pitt. One includes having student organizations with wooden signs standards forming a tunnel for Pitt players to run through to the student section.

The tailgate packs are supposed to feed up to 8 people. The wooden signs with student groups on the field. Wow. That takes me back to my days at Pitt. When all the frats and sororities would be out on the Pitt Stadium Turf doing that. Looks like, it’s a bit more inclusive. Bad idea, though, if college NAMBLA gets signage.

The fan initiatives weren’t directly solely at students. Pitt also guaranteed parking passes for all season-ticket holders, and Pederson said 7,500 parking passes have been sold, an increase of 2,500 from last year. Parking on the North Shore remains available.

The Pitt marching band will move its “March to Victory” down General Robinson St. one hour before kickoff to help alleviate traffic problems. Art Rooney Ave. will be the site of what Pitt is promoting as the “World’s Largest Family Tailgate,” with a food court and a 9-by-12 video screen with a live feed of PantherVision from the stadium scoreboard.

“We are really trying to transform this area into a destination, not just an area you pass through on the way to the stadium,” said Chris Ferris, Pitt’s assistant athletic director for marketing and promotions. “I really think the North Shore is going to be electric on Saturdays in Pittsburgh.”

That’s great. I think. I’m sure for one of the games I’ll bring my daughter down, and that will the sort of thing I should check out rather than keep her in the parking lot while I drink hang out with my friends.

That said, I don’t know how important the weekly fanfest stuff is for the families. It has a place, and can’t be discounted, but what matters is getting the students connected and involved.

This group of Pitt student fans is no different from any other. We have always found and made excuses when at Pitt. Whether the hill was too steep, lousy benches, just too drunk to leave the couch. Whatever. It’s not like Pitt is the only place that doesn’t have the stadium right in the campus. USF, Rutgers and UConn all have that same issue right in the Big East. South Carolina’s stadium is two miles from campus.

Look, as an alum not living in the ‘Burgh I am not wild about an off-campus stadium. I love being able to wander the Pitt campus, especially on a game day. The vibrancy and excitement is great. It doubly sucks that the first game of this season is at noon, so there is not even a chance to pop over there in advance just for a partial taste. That said, it is just an excuse to say that is what hurts the gameday atmosphere. The gameday atmosphere is up to us to create.

That goes for the students, the alum and fans. Cat Basket, which had some involvement in suggesting ways to involve the students more on gameday is issuing a challenge all the fans.

It starts with the students. They help set the tone. But it also means that there needs to be more from the rest of the fans.