Columnist Steve Guiremand: Badgering locals to buy tickets

Steve Guiremand

Friday, May 17, 2002 | 10:53 a.m.

Steve Guiremand covers college football for the Sun. He can be reached at steveg@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-2324.

The 2002 UNLV football schedule lists the Rebels' Aug. 31 season-opener against Wisconsin as a home game.

Now the question is will it really turn out that way?

Sure, the game will be played on UNLV's home field at Sam Boyd Stadium. And there no doubt will be a lot of people in the stands wearing red. But how much of it will be Rebel Red as opposed to the red worn by the faithful Bucky Badger followers?

When Wisconsin last made a visit to Sam Boyd Stadium in 1996, a sellout crowd of 40,091 turned out for the contest. The majority in that crowd were Badger fans, many of whom gobbled up UNLV season-ticket packages just to get a good seat for the contest. And they got their money's worth, too, as Wisconsin romped to a 52-17 victory.

No doubt Sam Boyd Stadium could be transformed into Mad City West again this year -- if UNLV officials would allow it.

"If we choose to, we probably could sell at least 30,000 tickets to Wisconsin fans alone," said Terry Cottle, UNLV's associate athletics director for sports marketing. "We want to have a sellout, obviously. But we also want to give our local fans every opportunity to be a part of it. And we're looking at the long range."

Translation: Although the game will likely smash the stadium attendance record with a crowd in excess of 42,000, UNLV officials want to make sure that Rebel fans will account for at least half that figure.

To that end, Cottle, a former college quarterback at St. Mary's College in Moraga, Calif., and a former recruiting coordinator for the Rebels, began mapping a game plan a year ago to try to balance the bleachers for that contest.

Current UNLV season-ticket holders, who had to turn in their renewals by today, had the option of doubling their current ticket allotment. If they had seven season tickets last season, they could add up to seven more this year.

And perhaps more importantly, new season tickets thus far are being sold only to Nevada residents to discourage Badger fans from swooping in and buying the six-game packages for just the Aug. 31 game. Considering an end zone season ticket costs just $65, it's not a bad investment. By comparison, a ticket to this year's Notre Dame-USC game at the L.A. Coliseum will run $55.

"So far we've added about 700 new season-ticket holders," Cottle said. "And we usually do most of our business in July and August."

Cottle hopes to pad that figure substantially before single-game tickets go on sale on July 28. He said the school had close to 11,000 season-ticket holders a year ago and his goal is to get that figure up to 15,000 this season.

Even in a best-case scenario, Sam Boyd Stadium will likely have a neutral field atmosphere for the Rebels. Wisconsin already has garnered about 15,000 tickets as part of its series contract agreement. One travel agency, Funjet Vacations of Milwaukee, alone will be sending 7,500 fans to the game in charter packages that include roundtrip airfare, hotel accomodations, game tickets and a pregame tailgate party (Pass the brats, eh?).

"I get anywhere from two to five calls each day from Wisconsin fans wanting to buy tickets for the game," Cottle said. "I'm sure some of them are from ticket scalpers. But a lot are from fans who want to come out here for the game. They'll do just about anything to get a ticket."

Those interested in UNLV football season tickets can contact Cottle at 895-UNLV.