Arizona football coach Jedd Fisch calls for fans to 'shatter attendance records' in ad

Jeremy Cluff, Arizona Republic
·4 min read
1
Arizona football coach Jedd Fisch continues to try to rally fans to support his team.
Arizona football coach Jedd Fisch continues to try to rally fans to support his team.
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.

Arizona Wildcats coach Jedd Fisch continues to try to rally fan support for his football team.

His latest attempt?

Fisch took out a full-page ad in Sunday's Arizona Daily Star, telling fans that "we need you."

“The heat and late games make the desert hard for opponents, but 50,000 screaming Wildcats is what makes Arizona Stadium one of the hardest places to play in the country,” Fisch wrote in the ad. “Our fans are game-changing and we need you."

More: Will Arizona State Sun Devils, Arizona Wildcats play in 2022 college football bowl games?

In the ad, Fisch said that "we want to shatter the home game attendance records" at Arizona Stadium.

The stadium seats 50,782.

“Sept. 10 is our home-opener against SEC foe, Mississippi State and we need you in the stands," Fisch wrote. "We have seven outstanding home games this season and we want to shatter the home game attendance records. ‘It’s personal’ is not just a saying. It’s personal to every player in our locker room, every Arizona football staff member, and the whole Wildcat community that you join us each home game and support our program. Each Saturday, we will give you our best. We ask the same from you.”

The Wildcats are coming off a 1-11 first season under Fisch, but optimism is increasing around the program after a highly touted recruiting class and the addition of some key transfers.

More: Arizona's Jedd Fisch included on college football hot seat list, ASU's Herm Edwards not

As for the Wildcats' home attendance last season, the team averaged just under 35,000 fans per game in a schedule that included San Diego State, NAU, UCLA, Washington, California and Utah.

It has home games in 2022 against Mississippi State, North Dakota State (Sept. 17), Colorado (Oct. 1), Oregon (Oct. 8), USC (Oct. 29), Washington State (No. 19) and Arizona State (Nov. 25), which could potentially result in bigger crowds on the season at Arizona Stadium.

Arizona's largest crowd ever was on Nov. 23, 1996, when 59,920 showed up for a 56-14 loss to ASU.

Fisch called for 'weekly sell outs" last season on Twitter.

More: Pac-12 football preseason media poll: Utah picked to win conference, ASU, Arizona low

In case you were curious, Arizona's attendance record for a 7-game home season is 350,774 in total attendance in 2005, which was an average of 50,111 fans per game.

How many fans will the team draw at home in 2022?

More: Pac-12 has been 'fractured' by Big Ten, Big 12 conference realignment, expansion chatter

Reach Jeremy Cluff at jeremy.cluff@arizonarepublic.com. Follow him on Twitter @Jeremy_Cluff.

Support local journalism: Subscribe to azcentral.com today.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona football: Jedd Fisch calls for fans to shatter records in 2022