Central Florida will have fan advantage
By Leila Wai
Advertiser Staff Writer
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Despite the travel distance, Central Florida supporters should outnumber Nevada fans by about 5 to 1 at the Sheraton Hawai'i Bowl.
Central Florida (8-4), Conference USA runner-up, will play in its first bowl game in school history Dec. 24 at Aloha Stadium against Western Athletic Conference co-champion Nevada (8-3). ESPN is televising the game live at 3:30 p.m. Hawai'i time.
"We have sold 380 tickets, and I just know that doesn't include player passes, so I would think we would have about 500 (family and friends) or so traveling," UCF sports information director Jason Baum said yesterday.
That number is huge compared to Nevada's.
"(As of Thursday), we sold about 75, and I don't imagine it's increased exponentially," Nevada sports information director Jamie Klund said. "I heard people were going to come on their own and buy tickets when they get there, but I don't think we'll go over 100 people."
That number likely doesn't include family members of Nevada receiver Caleb Spencer, who played high school football at Kamehameha Schools.
"It's just so expensive and it's hard to get there this time of the year," Klund said of the low Nevada numbers. "And it's around Christmas, and there are people who would just as soon stay home for the holidays. It's (UCF's) first bowl game. It's still a novelty to them. Not that it's an old hat to us, but that's a factor."
No fan charter flight is being organized by the university, but the Wolf Pack's host hotel is listed on the team's Web site, and the school's ticket office is selling premium seat tickets for $40.
UCF, meanwhile, is offering travel packages, including round-trip air fare, six-night hotel accommodations, and game tickets, for $2,340 for an individual, with options for double ($1,765 per person), triple ($1,715) and quad ($1,665) packages.
Nevada might not be used to playing in front of large crowds. Nevada drew an average of 15,076 for six home games this season. That's an improvement upon the 2004 season, when Nevada averaged 9,275.
UCF averaged 28,462 for five home games, including a school-record 51,978 against Tulsa in the C-USA championship game.
An estimated 6,000 tickets have been sold in Hawai'i.
The Sheraton Hawai'i Bowl is doing what it can to promote the game locally. Some of the promotions include:
The Keiki Holiday Village, located at the stadium, will be open from 1:30 p.m. to 3:30.
Tickets are $40 for premium seats, $25 for special section, and $8 general admission. They can be purchased at the Aloha Stadium box office, the Stan Sheriff Center box office, by phone at 548-BOWL (548-2695), or on www.etickethawaii.com.
Reach Leila Wai at lwai@honoluluadvertiser.com.
