Kansas University’s progress on the football field last season has led to increased sales at the ticket office.

“We’ve already sold more than we did all last year, and our big push is still coming,” KU athletic director Lew Perkins said of season-ticket sales. “You’re staring to see the signs and hear the radio ads. All those things are still coming.”

With more than a month to go before the season opener, KU has sold 22,800 season-ticket packages — up from 22,550 in 2003.

“We’re optimistic because now people are starting to think about football,” said associate athletic director Jim Marchiony. “We think that because of the success the team had last year, and the really good home schedule we have this year, that we can continue to build on those numbers.”

KU posted a 5-2 record at home last season when the Jayhawks finished 6-7 and made their first bowl appearance since 1995. Kansas faces a tougher home slate this year with dates against Tulsa (Sept. 4), Toledo (Sept. 11), Texas Tech (Sept. 25), Kansas State (Oct. 9), Colorado (Nov. 9) and Texas (Nov. 13).

Memorial Stadium seats 50,071, which means KU still has plenty of room to build its fan base.

“It doesn’t happen overnight,” Perkins said. “We’ve made a lot of progress already. Our boxes are all sold. It’s very promising.”

Kansas sold 19,418 season tickets in 2001, the Jayhawks’ final season with coach Terry Allen. Buoyed by the arrival of coach Mark Mangino, KU sold 26,500 tickets in 2002 — it’s highest total in 30 years.

KU officials said they haven’t set a goal for this year’s total.

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“There’s not a number short of selling out the stadium that we’ll be satisfied with,” Marchiony said. “We just have to keep at it.”

This winter KU officials will assign men’s basketball seats based on a priority point system, which awards fans for donations as well as being season-ticket holders in sports other than basketball. Perkins said he didn’t think the new system played a factor in football ticket sales.

“We haven’t looked at it that way,” he said. “We have loyal football fans. It’s not the points system. People want to come and see a good football team.”

For football ticket information, visit kuathletics.com.