Nothing increases fan support more than giving away free tickets to a sporting event.

In conjunction with Saluki Athletics, the SIUC Alumni Association will give away free tickets to its members in an effort to promote attendance during Saturday’s football and volleyball matchups.

Greg Scott, SIUC’s assistant director of Alumni public relations, said the ticket promotions are designed to put more fans in the stands.

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This promotion provides us with an avenue to help out Saluki athletics, Scott said. We really want to drum-up support for the athletes. They like to look up into the stands and see the seats filled with fans hopefully this will help do that.

On Friday, the volleyball squad will play their season opener against Indiana State in the Saluki Invitational.

Saturday afternoon the football Salukis play host to Murray State in their home opener at McAndrew Stadium beginning at 1:30 p.m. Volleyball action resumes at 4 p.m., pitting SIUC against Austin Peay.

Scott said the ticket promotion also allows the Alumni Association to show people some of the advantages of being an alumni member.

We (Alumni Association) purchase the tickets from the Athletic Department and distribute them to our various districts, Scott said. A member can go to any one of 16 Southern Illinois district sites and pick up their free tickets.

Scott said Saturday marks the first time the promotion has been held for football and volleyball games.

We’ve done this for basketball for the past five years and it has proven to be very successful, he said. This year we wanted to do it for both the football and volleyball teams in order to show our support for them as well.

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Scott said both the football and volleyball teams look very good this season and believes a lot more fans will show support for both teams.

SIUC volleyball coach Sonya Locke said she highly supports the promotion idea.

Anytime someone wishes to promote our volleyball matches, I’m all for it, she said. We want to see more fans at our matches.

We do a lot of promoting ourselves and promoting is meant to increase attendance, so whenever someone else wants to pitch in I’m going to support it.

Locke said she hopes many of the fans will depart McAndrew Stadium following the game and spill into Davies Gymnasium to watch her team take on Austin Peay.

Mike Trude, intercollegiate athletics director of marketing, said the Athletic Department and the Alumni Association feed off one another and that is why each one is so successful.

You can’t have one without the other because they parallel each other, he said. The alumni association speaks out across the country and many of the questions they are asked concern athletics.

The alumni association provides answers to those questions which support athletics.

Trude said the promotion can greatly enhance the attendance during both the football and volleyball games.

I think anytime you can get people in the stadium, it’s a great idea, Trude said. Giving people free tickets provides them with an opportunity to watch a game they may not have otherwise had.

It opens the door so they can see what they have been missing, and hopefully it will make them return, he said. I know they will be impressed with what they see on Saturday.

Scott could not indicate how many tickets have been picked up as of Wednesday afternoon. However, he said several sites have reported that the tickets are going fast and he urges members to pick up their tickets as soon as possible.

Alumni Association members can pick up tickets at either the Stone Center, or the 2nd floor of the Student Center through Sept. 8.