AD Dolson: Indiana Football Has 50% Increase in Season Ticket Sales

While Indiana football nears the start of a new season, the Hoosiers are still riding the wave from their historic 11-2 campaign in 2024.

Indiana athletic director Scott Dolson noted Friday the university's 20-year, $50 million agreement with Merchants Bank for the naming rights of Memorial Stadium's field is a statement about the Hoosiers' direction, and so are the bevy of facility and stadium renovations.

But there's another important aspect: Ticket sales.

Dolson said the Hoosiers' season ticket sales are up 50% from last year, an indication of general interest in the program.

Indiana sold old its final four home games in 2024, and tickets are already gone for the Hoosiers' Week 4 game against Illinois this season. The Hoosiers announced Aug. 9 that student section tickets are, for the first time in school history, sold out for the entire 2025 season.

Apart from Illinois, Indiana hasn't sold out any of its other six home games, though coach Curt Cignetti has urged fans, on several occasions, to fill Memorial Stadium during the non-conference slate and beyond.

The Hoosiers don't expect that to be an issue.

Dolson, who took over for Fred Glass as Indiana's athletic director Sept. 1, 2020, said he hasn't felt more hope or optimism around the football program in his five years on the job and 16 years total in the Hoosiers' athletic department.

While he was in the self-checkout line at a grocery store Aug. 17, a married couple approached Dolson. What followed was a feel-good moment that supported Dolson's belief in the local momentum surrounding Indiana football.

"I just looked at them and they said, 'We’re just two weeks away. We just can’t wait,'" Dolson said. "I told my wife when I got home, it just really made me feel good because it’s on people’s minds. There’s just a lot of hope out there."

Dolson added he's heard other members of the president's cabinet share anecdotal stories about the impact Indiana's success in football has had on the rest of campus, aiding Dolson's goal for the entire university to benefit from the athletic department's results.

And so, while Indiana football has tried to "rip off the rearview mirror" this summer before kicking off at 2:30 p.m. Aug. 30 against Old Dominion inside Memorial Stadium, the Hoosiers can't avoid reminders of 2024.

Because seemingly everywhere they look, there's something new and improved that likely owes its inception to the heights reached last season — starting with an abundance of fans in seats.