NIU Athletics is pushing for students to pick up tickets for Saturday’s football game against Akron. NIU officials expected to have handed out all 6,000 student tickets by Wednesday, but instead unloaded fewer than 2,000, according to late afternoon estimates.

“We’d thought by the end of [Wednesday] we’d call it a sellout,” said Beth Calder, assistant ticket manager for Athletics. “We’re not even close.”

This weekend is Family Weekend at NIU and Huskie Stadium.

“Every single parent gets a letter about Family Weekend, so it’s a big weekend for us,” Calder said.

Tickets can be picked up from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. today at the Convocation Center box office and from 8:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. Friday. They also are available from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on both days near the upstairs computer lab in the Holmes Student Center and at 2 p.m. on game day at the stadium.

Interested parents and anyone else wanting to sit on the student side can have a valid NIU OneCard holder pick up an additional four tickets at $10 each. Standard ticket price for the west stand’s seats is $17.

Saturday’s game will be televised on the new Comcast Sports Net; this will be the first game broadcasted on the network, which kicks off its broadcasting Friday.