Oaken Bucket student section expanded; seats still limited

IU Athletics Director Fred Glass took an unprecedented step Wednesday in opening a secondary student section for the IU-Purdue football game Saturday because of the high demand for seating.

“We had strong demand, and we really wanted to get all the kids in,” Glass said.

The move came after a 50 percent expansion of the current student section from 8,100 seats to 12,500. Those 4,400 extra seats sold out yesterday.

The sell out led Glass to take some of the general admission seats from the North End Zone area and turn them into a makeshift student section.

“I just think the students have been with us so strong this season that we really owe it to them to get them in,” Glass said.

Glass said he expects Memorial Stadium could sell out for the Hoosiers’ final game of the year and that he hopes that will be the case for IU’s heated rivalry contest.

“The way it’s going, it well could,” he said. “We’re experiencing really strong demand. I think we’re barreling toward having 50,000 in there and really having that place rocking.”