BYU means big budget as it shows off drawing power in Las Vegas

LAS VEGAS — Tom Holmoe likes Las Vegas because it brings out the best in BYU fans.

Located smack dab in the middle of huge Cougar fan bases in Utah, Arizona and Southern California, Thursday's second-straight appearance in a sold-out Pioneer Pure Vision Las Vegas Bowl underscores BYU drawing power in this town.

BYU sold out its allotment of tickets to this game before the Cougars were even invited. BYU fans gobbled up an additional 4,000 temporary seats within four hours, and after the University of Oregon took care of their administration and boosters and put the Duck allotment out in the open, those tickets sold in 25 minutes, mostly to Cougar fans according to associate athletic director Duff Tittle.

Counting general public sales the past month, which BYU has no way of accounting for, there could be between 38,000 and 40,000 BYU fans in Sam Boyd Stadium Thursday night.

"I think we could have sold another 15,000 tickets if we'd had them," Holmoe said. "It is a sign of how our fan base has responded to this football team and the job Bronco Mendenhall has done. We just hope to build on this in the future."

BYU's largest fan base is in Utah. It second-largest fan following is in nearby Southern California; third is Southern Idaho, followed by the Las Vegas metropolitan area and then Tucson and Phoenix in Arizona to the south.

"This is an easy place for our fans to travel to, and it shows," Holmoe said.

The Las Vegas Bowl folks, as expected, have taken notice. BYU's sellout against Cal here in 2005 drew a crowd of 40,053 fans in Sam Boyd Stadium. The Cal-BYU game on ESPN drew the seventh-highest TV ratings of 20 bowl games that were broadcast from December through January by ESPN networks and had a 2.40 national rating.

In a business move, Holmoe decided to capitalize on BYU's football success and added a $20 surcharge to BYU's allotment of tickets. After taking care of administration and other VIPs and the family of players out of its 12,000, the surcharge was added to the price of 9,000 tickets. It instantly raised approximately $180,000, ensuring BYU's athletic department would not lose money on the bowl trip. Even with a $950,000 payout share and revenue sharing plan with the MWC, it has been common for BYU to lose money going to bowl games.