Hawai'i football fans snap up UNLV game tickets

Advertiser Staff

•	UH-UNLV tickets Approximately 1,500 are available at $31 each from the Stan Sheriff Center ticket office. Purchase in person or order by phone at 944-2697. Today is the deadline. Tickets may be purchased by phone from the UNLV ticket office, (866) 388-3267. Prices vary by location and include a service charge.

That's because UNLV officials say approximately 21,000 tickets have been sold for the game, with most apparently going to Hawai'i fans, said Melissa Meacham, UNLV director of marketing and advertising.

UNLV individual game tickets didn't go on sale until Monday, following the sale of 9,650 season tickets.

Meacham said a crowd of "about 30,000" is expected for the game, which would make it one of the biggest in the 32-year history of Sam Boyd Stadium, which seats 36,800.

Wisconsin drew 42,075 in 2002 and 40,091 in 1996 and accounted for an estimated 15,000 to 20,000 fans on each occasion. Extra seats were brought in for those games, said UNLV spokesman Mark Wallington.

The last time UH played at UNLV, in 1997, the game drew 27,117, almost half of them in Hawai'i rooting sections.

For this year's game, Meacham said UH received an allotment of 4,000 tickets, and several hotels and travel agencies acquired blocks of tickets.

She said the game is sponsored by Boyd Gaming Corp., which operates several hotel properties popular with Hawai'i visitors and is offering hotel/ ticket packages aimed at UH fans.

In addition, some travel agencies are offering packages combining the Sept. 13 UH-Southern California game in Los Angeles with a Las Vegas stopover.

A spokesman for the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority said approximately 30,000 visitors are expected in town the weekend of the UH game, almost double the number when there isn't a major attraction in town.

In addition to UH fans who make the trip from Hawai'i, there are more than 25,000 transplanted Hawai'i residents in the Las Vegas area. According to the most recent census report, 12,079 Hawai'i residents moved to Nevada between 1995 and 2000.

Several UH groups — including the Letterwinner's Club, which hopes to attract former UH athletes and alumni living in California and the West Coast — are holding pregame and postgame functions.

ESPN2 is scheduled to broadcast the game.