Colorado State trails Colorado by more than 10,000 in tickets sold for Friday’s final Rocky Mountain Showdown football game in Denver.

CSU had sold 23,758 tickets for the game as of 11 a.m. Wednesday, a school spokesman said, including 7,391 student tickets. Those figures were expected to grow significantly later Wednesday and Thursday, school officials said, noting that they sold more than 1,000 total tickets and almost 600 student tickets between late Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning.

CU had sold 34,056 tickets as of Wednesday afternoon, including 9,985 to students a school spokesman said.

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The contract between the two schools to play the game at Broncos Stadium at Mile High gives CU control of about 55 percent of the stadium’s 76,125 seats to sell to its fans because of its larger season-ticket base, while the other 45 percent goes to CSU to sell to its fans.

CSU sets aside 10,000 each year for students, the same number of seats it makes available to students for home games at Canvas Stadium in Fort Collins. CU sets aside even more for its students for the Rocky Mountain Showdown, based on its student-ticket sales last year of 11,440.

CU’s total enrollment on its Boulder campus last spring was 34,870, while CSU’s was 34,046.

Game info: Rocky Mountain Showdown: TV, ticket, parking, weather, other game info

The Rocky Mountain Showdown drew capacity crowds of more than 75,000 in four of the first six years it was played in Denver, reaching a peak of 76,219 in 2003, and topped 73,000 as recently as 2017.

Overall attendance last year was 70,158. CU sold 38,399 tickets, while CSU sold 28,920, and the Denver Broncos and Ticketmaster sold 2,839, according to final sales figures announced at the game.

CSU and CU will play again in 2020 at Canvas Stadium in Fort Collins and in 2023 at Folsom Field in Boulder and 2024 at Canvas Stadium. They are not scheduled to play each other in 2021 or 2022.

Rocky Mountain Showdown attendance

(for games played in Denver)

2018 — 70,158

2017 — 73,932

2016 — 69,850

2015 — 66,253

2014 — 63,363

2013 — 59,601

2012 — 58,607

2011 — 57,186

2010 — 60,989

2008 — 69,619

2007 — 68,133

2006 — 65,701

2003 — 76,219

2002 — 75,531

2001 — 75,022

2000 — 67,567

1999 — 73,438

1998 — 76,036

Note: CSU-CU games were played in Boulder in 2004-05 and 2009

Kelly Lyell covers CSU and other local sports and sports-related news for the Coloradoan. Follow him at twitter.com/KellyLyell and facebook.com/KellyLyell.news and help support the work he and his fellow journalists do in our community by purchasing a subscription at coloradoan.com/subscribe.