MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — West Virginia’s athletic department projects football season ticket sales to top out around 27,000, continuing a five-year decline.

The program has sold about 26,300 packages for its six-game home schedule, said Matt Wells, WVU’s senior associate athletic director. The three weeks leading up to the opener typically attracts an additional 500 to 1,000 buyers.

Priced at $365 with donations required for premium tiers, the package includes two home games against opponents in the preseason coaches poll, No. 11 Oklahoma State and No. 23 Texas. The Mountaineers, coming off a 10-win season, are ranked 20th.

West Virginia sold all 17,000 seats allotted for its highly anticipated neutral-site opener against Virginia Tech, which was not part of the season ticket package.

West Virginia football season tickets

Year Sales No. games Cost 2017 27,000* 6 games $365 2016 28,035 7 games $395 2015 28,837 7 games $395 2014 29,553 6 games $365 2013 33,623 6 games $365 2012 37,341 7 games $395

That 2012 surge, created by the frenzy of WVU joining a new conference and building off the Orange Bowl demolition of Clemson, may never be matched. The television experience is so crisp and convenient that many Power 5 programs struggle to gain offseason commitments. (To that end, West Virginia is adding a new video board to the north end zone and has completed its second phase of stadium concourse renovations.)

Attendance dipped across the FBS in 2016 for a sixth consecutive year, though West Virginia actually bucked that trend — averaging 57,583 fans per home game, up from the previous year’s 54,826.

So while some Mountaineers fans are reluctant to shell out for an entire season in advance, they’re still buying single-game tickets and mini-packages that encompass three or four games.