Hurricanes AD makes a bold promise: 'We're going to sell out Hard Rock Stadium'
Optimism is high around the University of Miami Hurricanes' football program heading into the 2018 season.
The Hurricanes are coming off a 10-3 season, their first trip to the ACC Championship Game in program history and their first Orange Bowl berth since the 2003 season.
Coach Mark Richt, the man who led the Hurricanes there, signed a contract extension that will keep him at UM through at least the 2023 season.
It makes it that much easier for UM athletic director Blake James to feel confident heading into the season.
So much so that he was willing to make this declaration on WQAM's Joe Rose Show when asked about the progress of season-ticket sales:
"I'm going to go out on a limb and say we're going to sell out Hard Rock Stadium for I think it'll be the first time in the history of Miami Hurricanes football," James told WQAM on Friday. "Obviously, the Orange Bowl was a little bit bigger. I don't know what all the numbers were back then, but I know we never sold it out in season tickets. We're gonna get to that point this year."
The Hurricanes had an average announced attendance of 57,774 for its seven regular-season home games, its highest season average since moving to Hard Rock Stadium (formerly Sun Life Stadium) in 2008. Miami had more than 63,000 fans at each of its final three home games — Virginia Tech (63,932), Notre Dame (65,303) and Virginia (63,415).
This average doesn't include the announced crowd of 65,032 that filled Hard Rock Stadium to see the Hurricanes play in the Orange Bowl on Dec 30. Hard Rock Stadium's capacity is listed at 65,326.
UM sold a program-record 42,000 season tickets heading into the 2017 season, Richt's second on campus. The Hurricanes expect to sell more for 2018. Miami senior associate athletic director Jesse Marks told the Miami Herald that fewer than 5,000 season tickets remain and reiterated that "UM is expected to sell out."
"The outpouring of support from our fan base has been incredible. Obviously, we saw the energy in the stadium last year," James said. "I've had more than one person nationally tell me the environment at the Notre Dame game was among the best if not the best he's ever been at in college football. I think we've just built on that."
The 2018 home schedule certainly provides a fitting slate of games.
After the Hurricanes open the season against LSU on Sept. 2 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, Miami's first home game is against Savannah State on Sept. 8.
The fun begins after that.
The rest of the home schedule: Sept. 22 against FIU, the first game in the renewed rivalry since the 2006 brawl at the Orange Bowl; Sept. 27 against North Carolina, a Thursday-night game that doubles as the Hurricanes' ACC opener; Oct. 6 against Florida State, which Miami defeated last season for the first time since 2009; Nov. 3 against Duke; and the Nov. 24 regular-season finale against Pitt, which handed Miami its first of three straight losses to close out 2017.
This story was originally published May 4, 2018 at 1:33 PM with the headline "Hurricanes AD makes a bold promise: 'We're going to sell out Hard Rock Stadium'."