The Highlanders have broken a record before they even run on to the field at Forsyth Barr Stadium tonight.
The match between the Highlanders and the Crusaders, kicking off at 7.35pm, is a sellout, the first time the franchise has sold out a game at the covered stadium or at Carisbrook.
Its first game at the stadium in 2012, also against the Crusaders, drew 22,500 while the playoff game at the stadium last year, against the Chiefs, was about 1500 short of a sellout.
Tickets have been snapped up this week and Highlanders chief executive Roger Clark was thrilled to put the house-full sign out early yesterday. In total, 23,363 tickets have been sold.
The largest crowd the franchise has played in front of was in 2003 at Carisbrook when 29,376 turned out for a match against the Crusaders.
The franchise had been attracting crowds of 15,000 on average so far this season, which was 16% above budget.
Clark said this game had long been signalled as drawing a big crowd and ticket sales had picked up pace after last weekend when both sides had good wins.
Just over 2000 tickets were sold on Monday and the remainder have been snapped up in the days since.
Highlanders coach Jamie Joseph said if the scores were close, which they were likely to be, a supportive and noisy crowd would give the local team a boost.
"Games don't come any better than this - a match-up with one of the best teams in the competition, in front of a soldout home crowd. This is what our boys get up and play for,'' Joseph said.
Today is also Landers Day, on which the southern public is encouraged to dress up in blue and gold to show support for the team.
The Crusaders lead the competition and come into the game on an eight-game winning streak.
They have won the past three games at the stadium between the two sides.
