Iowa sees explosion in women’s basketball season ticket interest, also at ‘really good pace’ in football renewals

IOWA CITY — Iowa athletics director Gary Barta has noticed women’s basketball fans are “excited on the heels of great success.”

Excited might be an understatement.

The athletics department has “paused” accepting deposits for new 2023-24 season tickets for women’s basketball because of burgeoning demand.

The Hawkeyes received deposits for about 6,700 new season tickets, according to deputy athletics director Matt Henderson.

The pause went into effect Tuesday, less than 48 hours after Iowa’s loss to LSU in the national championship game. The 2023-24 season remains about seven months away.

The 6,700 deposits are in addition to the 6,500 existing season ticket holders, although Barta said Thursday some overlap is possible if season ticket holders unnecessarily “tried to jump ahead.”

That means, depending on retention rates, 13,200-plus people could potentially be in the queue for season tickets for the 15,056-seat arena.

Season ticket retention rates are likely to be high ahead of Caitlin Clark’s senior season, and some existing season ticket holders may purchase more seats than in 2022-23.

“We have to make sure we have room for them first, and then we’ll take on newcomers,” Barta said of Iowa’s 2022-23 season ticket holders.

The exact number of season tickets Iowa will make available is murky at this early stage of the offseason, but it will surely be below the arena’s 15,056-person capacity.

Iowa must account for the visiting team allotment and student tickets.

Barta also wants to “make sure we have enough tickets prepared” for season ticket holders to have access to tickets for the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament. Carver-Hawkeye Arena’s capacity drops to 14,382 in the postseason configuration.

Even with the booming demand, Barta is hesitant to project a season-ticket sellout yet.

“I’m sure excited about the enthusiasm and the excitement,” Barta said. “It would be fun if (selling out all season tickets) were the case.”

Unlike football and men’s basketball, Iowa has not charged for women’s basketball student tickets.

“We do charge for football, we do charge for men’s basketball, and maybe someday we'll get to the point where we need to charge for the other sports if they're selling out on a regular basis,” Barta said. “But at this point, we haven’t had that discussion.”

The exact number of Iowa women’s basketball tickets set aside for students in 2023-24 is not clear yet.

“In football and men’s basketball, for example, we base it on past history — how many have attended and purchased tickets in the past — and we’ll do something similar with women’s basketball,” Barta said.

Football season tickets

A couple blocks south of Carver-Hawkeye Arena, Barta said the renewal rate for football season tickets at Kinnick Stadium is “between 85 and 90 percent” so far.

“That’s on a really good pace,” Barta said.

The deadline to renew season tickets was March 31, but athletics department officials anticipate an uptick from people who missed the deadline because of miscellaneous reasons.

Iowa cut the price from season tickets at Kinnick Stadium for 2023 by $10 to $25, depending on seat location. The Hawkeyes are coming off an 8-5 season and have fewer marquee games on the 2023 schedule.

Comments: john.steppe@thegazette.com