With the resurgence of the Hawkeye football team, being a season-ticket holder is more popular than ever.

After only a few months of being on sale, there are only two home games out of seven for the upcoming season that have yet to be sold out to the general public.

As it stands, Eastern Illinois (Sept. 4) and Ball State (Sept. 25) may be the only two games whose tickets will be sold individually to the public, Iowa athletics ticket manager Pam Finke said.

“For those two games, [there will be] probably about a 1,000 to1,500 tickets available,” she said.

There is also a chance those two games could sell out as well — perhaps by the end of July.

Iowa’s ticket rush is due to a mixture of a successful decade of football and one of the best Big Ten home schedules imaginable.

Kinnick Stadium will host sellout crowds during the games against Iowa State (Sept. 11),

Homecoming against Penn State (Oct. 2), Family Game against Wisconsin (Oct. 23), Michigan State (Oct. 30), and Ohio State (Nov. 20).

Having to turn away almost 5,000 season-ticket requests, Finke and her staff devised a plan that would help ensure most of those fans would still have the ability to be able to root for the Hawkeyes.

The ticket office has offered those fans a two-game package deal, giving them the opportunity to witness the team live.

It also allows them a spot on the renewal list next year.

“You know, some people were disappointed they could not get full [season tickets],” Finke said. “But on the other hand, some of them were new people who may have had tickets at another time before, or they may have had alumni status, but they did not order tickets last year.

“When you have that big of rush for season tickets and offer people two games instead of a full refund, people appreciated that.”

But as many fans have witnessed, some season-ticket holders are putting their tickets up for sale on secondary marketplaces such as eBay.com and StubHub.com.

“I have four season tickets, and I’m planning on selling anywhere two to three of them per game,” said one season-ticket holder who wanted to remain anonymous to avoid possibly getting his tickets revoked. “I’ll make all my money back and then some.”

But Finke and her staff warn against fans purchasing tickets from such providers.

“The risk they take from not buying it from us is that if they show up on game day and cannot get in the gates for one reason or another, they’re out of luck,” Finke said. “If they forget them, or if the bar-code isn’t good for some reason, or if it says there’s another ticket like it out there somewhere, sorry. Go back to the person you bought it from.”

To make sure the seats stay in the Iowa family of fans, the ticket office has an online ticket marketplace, which gives season-ticket holders the opportunity to put them up for sale only to other Hawkeye fans. Buying through this marketplace guarantees one will see the game they purchased a ticket for.

Finke also said student tickets could be on the verge of selling out.

“There is still about 2,500, but we have tried to e-mail students who were in school last semester to encourage them to get them,” she said. “We have contacted the incoming freshmen who are coming to Orientation to let them know to order their tickets.

“Hopefully, everybody knows the story, because we will run out.”