When Pitt athletic director Steve Pederson was hired in late November, he made it clear his top priority was filling Heinz Field with fans for football games.

True to his word, Pederson, along with associate athletic director Chris Ferris, believe they've come up with a plan to achieve that goal.

"We want our games to become an experience," Pederson said. "We have a great place to play in Heinz Field, we feel we'll have a great product to sell.

"Our goal is to sell out Heinz Field for the entire season. We know we can do it and we've done it before."

Pederson recalled the 2003 season when he and former associate athletic director Jim Earle came up with a ticket pricing plan that enabled the Panthers to sell out all of their season tickets. The team averaged 59,197 fans that year and had more than 60,000 for four of the six home games. Pitt sold a little less than 30,000 season tickets last season but is hoping to increase that number to 50,000, which would be a sellout (not including student tickets and tickets reserved for visiting teams).

The athletic department will use a similar formula -- starting with discounted tickets -- to try and sell out this year as well.

The plan is not limited, however, to selling just discounted tickets. A number of other initiatives, many the result of a fan survey, will be implemented. Here is the plan:

• Reduced prices: Season tickets, which go on sale today, are less expensive. Student tickets are $25 (down from $49); Upper end zone seats are $72 (down from $99); Lower level end zone seats and some seats in the upper deck are $99 (down from $199); The lower level sideline and upper level sidelines between the 20-yard lines are $144 (down from $199); and Club seats are $270. The club seats and some of the sideline seats will again require a donation to the Panther Club.

"If you look, 33 percent of our season tickets cost less than $100," Pitt ticket manager Reed Patterson said. "That's a tremendous value."

• Parking: For the first time since the Panthers moved to Heinz Field, every season ticket holder will have the opportunity to buy a season parking pass for $60, which breaks down to $10 per game.

"We're selling the spaces at the same cost we pay for them," Pederson said. "But we needed to make sure that if you buy season tickets you can buy a parking pass."

• Game day activities: Ferris said the marketing team is working on putting together the "World's largest family block party" as well as the "World's largest student bash".

• Later start times: Home games that aren't on television have generally been either at noon or 1 p.m. Pederson said he believes those times aren't fan friendly. So every game where Pitt controls the start time will start no earlier than 3:30. He also has told Big East officials that the Panthers will never play at home on Friday night and all of Pitt's home games this season will be on Saturday.

• A better home schedule: For the first time since 2003, Pitt is not playing a Division I-AA team. The Panthers home schedule is Bowling Green, Buffalo, Iowa, Louisville, Rutgers and West Virginia. That should be a more attractive than last season, which was highlighted by South Florida. Pitt also will enter the season with much higher expectations than the past two seasons, which should generate more excitement as well.

Pederson believes that these initiatives will underscore the athletic department's commitment to put "Pitt fans first" and he said he is open to any suggestions fans would like to submit.

"Our motto is 'our fans first,'" Pederson said. "And I think if you have all the things we have in place to get fans to come to the games and then you provide a good product and the team is successful on the field, you have a chance to have long-term success. That's what we are aiming for."

Tickets can be purchased at www.pittsburghpanthers.com, at the Petersen Events Center box office, or by calling 1-800-643-PITT.