University of Hawai'i football season-ticket renewals dropped 11.6 percent from last year, marking the second-largest decline in the past five years.

UH officials yesterday announced that 16,300 football season tickets were renewed this year, 2,149 fewer than in 2005.

"While we always hope for 100 percent in season-ticket renewals, we also realize that each fan's situation is unique, and they have their own reasons for renewing or not renewing," UH athletic director Herman Frazier said in a statement to the media.

Last year, 18,449 season tickets out of 21,000 were renewed, a decline of 2,551, or 12 percent.

UH officials declined to comment for the reason for the drop, or whether pay-per-view or the extra charge for tickets (premium seating) played a role.

"We'd rather not speculate," said Lois Manin, UH sports information director.

Pay per view — a system by which fans can watch live telecasts for a fee — was implemented in 2002. KFVE paid UH a fee for the right to telecast games. Oceanic Time Warner Cable is the distributor of the pay-per-view telecasts. Last season, KFVE showed delayed telecasts on Sunday morning.

In the premium-seat system, a fan pays a fee for the right to buy a ticket in a "preferred" area. The premium fee is in addition to the face value of a ticket.

The system was first implemented in 2004, with UH charging a fee of $30 to $125 per seat.

In 2005, the school took back 660 seats in the brown loge area, and repackaged them for high-end sales. Ticket packages for four to eight seats in the loge area, plus parking and other ticket considerations, were priced at $3,500 to $15,000. That was expected to increase to $5,000 to $20,000 by 2007.

Frazier says he hopes new season-ticket purchases will boost the total.

Season tickets for new purchasers go on sale June 26. Last football season, UH gained 1,977 new season-ticket holders, boosting its total season-ticket sales for the 2005 season to 20,426.

UH football season-ticket sales have not dipped below 20,000 since the early 1980s.

"We certainly appreciate the fans who continue to support our student athletes and all of our men's and women's sports by purchasing season tickets for football," Frazier said. "We have very high expectations for the 2006 season, and I know many of our fans share that optimism."

This year, fans can purchase tickets at HawaiiAthletics.com via UH's new digital ticket system.

The new system also will allow season-ticket holders to transfer and sell their tickets online. Game tickets can be e-mailed to friends and family members, who can print them from their personal computers.

"When the new season-ticket sales period begins June 26, we're optimistic that we'll have a good response from the community," Frazier said. "We hope they take full advantage of the new online digital ticketing system that we have in place beginning this season."

UH opens its home season Sept. 16 against Nevada-Las Vegas. The home schedule also includes nonconference games against Purdue (Nov. 25) and Oregon State (Dec. 2).

Tickets may be purchased from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Mondays through Fridays at the Stan Sheriff Center Box Office or by calling 944-2697.