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Thursday, December 25, 1997
Sellout unlikely for Cotton Bowl -- again
DALLAS (AP) -- The Cotton Bowl probably won't be a sellout
for the third time in five years.
Officials have already given up hope that all the tickets will
be sold for the New Year's Day game between No. 5 UCLA and No.
20 Texas A&M.
The Cotton Bowl, which has a capacity of 68,252, was far from
being sold out for the 1996 game between Colorado and Oregon and
narrowly missed selling out when A&M met Notre Dame in 1994.
Fewer than 45,000 showed up for the '96 game played in terrible
weather. Before that, the smallest crowd was for the 1979 game
between Notre Dame and Houston, which coincidentally is considered
one of the greatest in Cotton Bowl history. Joe Montana came out
of the locker room, where he was being treated for the flu, and
threw a touchdown pass in the final minute to give Notre Dame
a 35-34 victory before about 32,500.
A slow rate of sales indicates about 60,000 tickets will be
sold with a turnout of just over 50,000.
Neither school has come close to selling its 12,500-ticket
allotment. A&M has sold fewer than 7,000 tickets; UCLA only
about 2,000.
Game officials had hoped a local draw like A&M would pick
up the slack from slow sales to Bruins fans, but that hasn't happened.
A&M ticket manager Jim Kotch said possible factors for
the lack of interest from Aggies fans could be the team's 54-15
loss to Nebraska in the Big 12 championship game, UCLA's position
as an 11-point favorite and a $55 ticket price, $13 more than
they were for the school's last appearance in '94.
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Copyright ©1997,
Abilene Reporter-News / Texnews / E.W. Scripps Publications
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