Iowa Athletics Director Gary Barta talks on multiple topics

Iowa Athletics Director Gary Barta joined me, KXIC Sports Director Brent Balbinot and HawkeyeReport.com Publisher Tom Kakert on today's "Good Call" radio show in Iowa City.

Here are a few highlights from Barta:

• Football tickets: The homecoming game against Michigan is sold out. Iowa has single-seat tickets available for home games against Northern Iowa (Sept. 5) and Arizona (Sept. 19). There are tickets available for Iowa's other four home games.
• Football practice facility: Barta and Iowa football coach Kirk Ferentz toured other college practice facilities to get ideas for the upcoming football upgrade. Any renovation and expansion likely will come in waves, rather than all at once.
• On message boards: Barta doesn't look at online Web sites to read on the latest hot topic for fans. He said he knows the topics based on his e-mail volume. He said he reads all e-mails and responds to as many as he can. He said he won't respond to anonymous e-mails.
• Economic woes: Football ticket sales are at 98 percent of 2008 levels. There were no raises for department employees this year, and the athletics department cut its budget by around $1 million.
• Goldouts/Blackouts: He said department employees discussed the slogans for various games and settled on the ones they chose for this year. Nothing more, nothing less.
• Basketball practice facility/Carver-Hawkeye Arena renovation: Iowa is in the midst of a utility project northwest of Carver-Hawkeye Arena. Barta hopes to break ground on the project late this fall, and it's a two-year process until completion. The school could save money on construction costs because of the struggling economy, but that could change with a project delay. Iowa plans to bid the process fairly soon.
• Tailgating: Barta wants to clean up some of the binge drinking on game days. If a season-ticket holder gets kicked out of a game for drunken or abusive behavior, Barta will send that person a letter with the potential to lose season tickets. Barta also will allow fans to text message security and department personnel regarding obnoxious fans.
• Basketball program: Barta said he knew it would be a process to transition from Steve Alford to Todd Lickliter, mainly because of the coaches' preferred playing styles are so different. Barta said he's confident the program is on the upswing.
• North Dakota State vs. Iowa State: Barta said he'll cheer for North Dakota State, which he quarterbacked to a Division II national title in 1986. He said he's unsure if he'll attend the game in Ames on Sept. 3.
• Water tower: Barta said he got a suggestion to paint the water tower like a keg of beer. Not gonna happen.