That thump you didn't hear might have been the prices for pay-per-view sales of University of Hawai'i sporting events finally hitting the ceiling.

After five years of seeking an equilibrium in leaps and lurches, it might have arrived for this most lucrative and, sometimes, controversial of UH athletic ventures. It might have finally found the long-sought balance at which it will still fit fans' wallets without deterring people from going to the stadium.

That is the hope, anyway, after an announcement of prices for 2007 shows the average price per event actually dropped in several categories. While the cost of a so-called season-ticket package will rise on O'ahu from $350 to $380 for new subscribers, the per-event cost drops from $23.33 to $20 for the 19 events compared to 15 last year. Likewise for O'ahu renewal customers the cost goes up from $285 to $330 but will drop on a per-event basis from $19 to $17.37. Not enough to take to Las Vegas, but significant in that the trend has gone the other way for a rare time since the $75 package made its debut in 2002.

Neighbor Island customers — both new ($175) and renewal ($135) — will pay the same overall price as last year but, likewise, be getting more events for the money.

While that is good news it is, also, in a way surprising. You figure if there was a season for which the operators of pay-per-view — KFVE, Oceanic Time Warner and UH — might be tempted to push it, this would be it. If there was a year to go long one last time, it is 2007.

It is hard to recall a more anticipated football season in Manoa, from quarterback Colt Brennan's return to the hopes for running the table on the schedule. And with network cable only taking two of the first nine games and four of the first seven away from home, pay-per-view is holding most of the early cards. Even if some of the opponents, Northern Colorado and Charleston Southern among them, are jokers.

Pay-per-view was conceived as a means for UH to cash in on fans who otherwise couldn't or wouldn't attend games. In time it also came to be a mechanism whereby the school could leverage a higher guaranteed rights fee from KFVE.

Undoubtedly the powers that be are mindful of the steady drop in overall sales, from 7,809 in 2005 to 6,646 last year. But while sales dropped, the price increases meant a 74-percent leap in revenues to $2.7 million in 2006 while UH football attendance finally climbed last year.

Like the football team it showcases, it will be interesting to see if pay-per-view comes into its own this season.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8044.