Cyclones pulling in record crowds

AMES - Call it the Paul Rhoads effect.

And it's spreading.

Last Saturday, Iowa State football attracted 50,000-plus fans for the fifth time in 2011 - marking the first time it had done that in a season.

Next Friday, Nov. 18, Cyclone officials hope to add to the high-attendance hoopla, completing a six-game sweep of 50,000 fans per home game this season when No. 2 Oklahoma State comes to town.

“It's phenomenal what our fans have done,” said Iowa State athletics director Jamie Pollard. “And to get five straight over 50, I think is a reflection, probably in large part, to their belief in coach Rhoads and the workmanship-like approach that he's taken.”

Not to mention fiery.

Rhoads began his postgame news conference after a 13-10 win last week over Kansas by stressing - then vehemently re-stressing - the importance of achieving the new attendance mark.

“The fact that we broke the season ticket sales record and the fact that we're going to break the single season attendance record is special to me,” Rhoads said. “The looks on your faces, you don't care about me talking about it. I understand. You want me to get to the game and all that stuff. But you need to talk about it. Because it's a special time right here at Iowa State university right now and if that stuff wasn't going on those people wouldn't be in the stands. I'm proud of them and I'm proud to be the head football coach here.”

That pride extends to his players as well as the stands.

“It's great to see all the support,” said quarterback Jared Barnett, who rushed for 125 yards against the Jayhawks and improved to 2-0 as a starter. “We love our fans. They really come out and make the game enjoyable. It's easier for us to play in a stadium where our fans are really making it tough on (the opponent). We love Cyclone Nation.”

ISU attracted 45,395 fans per game in 2010.

The Cyclones have drawn an average of 53,971 for each home game this season, a number that ranks 38th nationally, above such teams as Kansas State, Stanford and Miami (Fla.).

“Our average is up nearly 20 percent,” Pollard said. “I don't think there's another school in the country -I don't know that factually, but I don't think there's another school in the country that probably has that kind of increase in average attendance now.”

Inducements from the marketing department have helped.

Last week, Pollard said, an extra 4,000 tickets were sold in the days leading up to the Kansas game.

A hillside ticket promotion, and dubbing the game “Fan Appreciation Day,” proved to be key elements of the push past 50,000.

“(Associate athletics director for marketing) Mary Pink and her staff did a tremendous job,” said Pollard, who added the number of season-ticket holders under 18 has climbed to about 4,200. “It was two weeks prior to the KU game that we started talking about it internally. I think the initial reaction was, ‘Well, we'll do this, this and this.' We challenged them to say let's think bigger. Let's think about it differently.”

They did and they do.

Iowa State football stands stands just 41,585 fans from setting a single-season mark for overall attendance.

And for Oklahoma State, $11 reserved seat tickets are being offered.

While they last.

“We're a company town and Iowa State is the company,” Pollard said. “And athletics is the front porch of the company town.”