Iowa-Minnesota football game nears sellout status

The first November night football game at Kinnick Stadium is likely to be a sellout.

All the University of Iowa has left to sell for the 7 p.m. Nov. 14 game between the 12th-ranked Hawkeyes and Minnesota are singles throughout Kinnick. If those are sold, it would likely mark Iowa's first sellout of 2015 and just the second to reach the 70,585 capacity in the past three seasons.

Earlier in the day, Iowa is set to shatter the NCAA wrestling attendance record at Kinnick. As of Wednesday, about 29,000 tickets had been sold for the "Grapple on the Gridiron," an 11 a.m. dual between Iowa and Oklahoma State.

Plenty of tickets remain for the other two home games for Iowa, which is off to just its third 7-0 start in the last 93 years. The UI said Wednesday about 9,500 tickets remained for Iowa-Maryland on Oct. 31. More than 15,000 remain for the home finale, Nov. 21 vs. Purdue.

Attendance has been a storyline for Iowa football since January. Iowa is averaging 61,455 fans per home game, a sharp drop from 67,512 a season ago. A 17 percent decline in season ticket sales from 2014 left a big box-office dent to overcome.

It's very likely attendance will pick up for the 2016 season, with Iowa's stirring 2015 success and a seven-game home schedule that includes Iowa State, Northwestern, Wisconsin, Michigan and Nebraska.