University of Hawai'i football ticket sales are running "more than $250,000" below projections to this point in the season, athletic department officials said yesterday.

But athletic director Jim Donovan cautioned that it was "only a snapshot" and said he is hopeful that the Warriors' breakthrough win last week and upcoming games against Navy and Wisconsin will be attractive enough to reverse or at least cut into the downward trend.

Turnstile attendance is down an average of 3,531 per game from the same point last year, according to UH figures. Associate athletic director Carl Clapp said receipts are down "a rough estimate of more than $250,000, probably closer to $300,000 ..." from preseason projections.

UH (3-6) has played four of its seven home games. Football ticket sales, which were projected to reach $5 million, are the largest source of income for the athletic department which operates on a nearly $28 million budget.

Donovan and Clapp said that cost-cutting measures have so far kept the drop from adding to the $2 million projected overall athletic department deficit this fiscal year. Donovan said he and a number of staff members have taken salary cuts and coaches and staff have helped trim expenses.

Donovan said he projects the number of tickets distributed for Saturday's game with New Mexico State to "be in the mid-30,000s" but declined to estimate a turnstile count. UH, which drew a season-low 25,883 through the turnstiles for the homecoming victory over Utah State, have a turnstile average of 32,169 per game this season.

"That (homecoming) crowd was about what I expected under the circumstances," Donovan said. "I think if we continue to build on the win (against) Utah State we'll start to see the fans come back and (sales) will steadily increase."

Donovan and Clapp said early sales for the Nov. 28 Navy and Dec. 5 Wisconsin games are running similar to the Fresno State and Boise State games for which 38,556 and 37,928 tickets were distributed, respectively.

Bowl-bound Navy, under former UH quarterback Ken Niumatalolo, is 7-3, while No. 21-ranked Wisconsin is 7-2.