WSU's Holiday Bowl ticket sales are selling at brisk pace, says the Cougars' ticket office

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Stefanie Loh
By
Seattle Times staff reporter

How excited are Washington State fans about their team’s Dec. 27 Holiday Bowl berth against Minnesota in San Diego, Calif.?

So excited that WSU sold out its 7,000-ticket bowl allotment within 48 hours and had to request an additional 1,000 tickets from the Holiday Bowl.

At the end of the first full work week since last Sunday’s bowl announcement, WSU has sold a little over 7,500 tickets, WSU Assistant Athletic Director for ticket sales Matt Zollinger said Friday afternoon.

Things have calmed down some after a frantic Monday that saw the Cougars ticket office bring in extra people to work the phone lines, but a constant stream of tickets are still being snapped up.

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“We’ve sold more tickets to this game than last year’s (Sun Bowl) and the New Mexico Bowl combined,” Zollinger said. “There was a different demand for those bowl games.”

WSU sold more than 4,500 tickets for the 2013 New Mexico Bowl — which was eagerly anticipated in its own right because it snapped a 10-year Cougars bowl drought. Zollinger said exact ticket sales numbers for the 2015 Sun Bowl were not immediately available.

The Holiday Bowl has not sold out since 2009 when Nebraska blanked Arizona 33-0 in front of 64,607 at Qualcomm Stadium, but Holiday Bowl Game Executive Director Mark Neville said Friday afternoon that overall bowl ticket sales are doing well, and tracking well ahead of their numbers this time last year.

As of Friday afternoon, the Holiday Bowl had sold just over 50,000 tickets, with more than two weeks left before game day, Neville said. This includes the 7,000 allotment per school and WSU’s additional request for 1,000 tickets.

Last year, the Holiday Bowl sold a total of 48,329 tickets.

Neville did not have exact numbers for Minnesota’s ticket sales but said the school has not requested any additional tickets over their initial allotment.

“I haven’t gotten a report in a couple days from Minnesota, but I heard they were selling well,” Neville said. “I think there will be a lot of Golden Gophers here, but I do think there will probably be a (crowd) a little more weighted toward the Cougars.”

Tickets for the Holiday Bowl are available through WSU’s ticket office, or by calling 1800-GO-COUGS.

Stefanie Loh: sloh@seattletimes.com; on Twitter: @StefanieLoh. Stefanie Loh is the Seattle Times' features editor. She formerly held assistant sports editor and college football reporter positions at The Seattle Times.