Vegas is a sell-out already

Mark Wallington was at a photo shoot for UNLV's tennis team when he got the phone call.

Wallington is the media director for the Pioneer Vision Las Vegas Bowl. On the other end of the line was executive director Tina Kunzer-Murphy.

"You'll never believe what just happened," Kunzer-Murphy said. "Those 4,100 tickets we put on sale this morning? Well, they're all gone."

That was Thursday. On Friday, Wallington said the lightning sellout stunned the bowl committee. "We thought it might be days, even weeks, before those seats were gone."

Win or lose today, BYU should receive its second straight invitation to play in the Las Vegas Bowl on Dec. 21 in Sam Boyd Stadium where the game could host the biggest crowd in event history.

Some folks expect the bid will probably be tendered after the game. Or not. But two members of the Las Vegas Bowl will be in Provo today to "scout" the game.

The shock factor is the number of tickets sold to the event before teams have received an official invitation.

Right after the Cougars defeated Colorado State on the road on Nov. 4, a Las Vegas scalper may have got wind that the committee wanted league leader BYU to return in December. He shelled out $80,000 for 1,000 tickets, and that move started a domino trail.

"I've heard that rumor," Wallington said. "Somebody made an 'investment' of sorts."

Within days, the Las Vegas Bowl Web site was swamped for ticket requests. The scalper somehow locked up that many of the sideline seats available to the public, bringing on a feeding frenzy by many BYU fans anticipating an invite.

After the Cougars defeated Wyoming 55-7 10 days ago, things went ballistic. Cougar fans, looking for some of the same deals though avenues they had last year, suddenly found those sources dried up.

BYU put out word early this week that bowl officials declared the event a sellout. Scrambling to meet a demand, executive Kunzer-Murphy announced the bowl would install temporary bleachers in the north end zone and sell those for $30 each beginning Thursday morning.

The 4,100 tickets were gobbled up within five hours.

Each team will receive an allotment of 12,000 tickets, which will be available after the respective teams have been invited. Those tickets will be given to administrators, guests of players and coaches, and the remainder will be sold to priority boosters before going out for public consumption.