San Diego – The final ticket count for Colorado State at the Poinsettia Bowl is 5,500, pending donations yet to arrive. CSU athletic director Mark Driscoll estimated 3,000 fans traveled, but there was no way of knowing how many California-area resident bought directly from the bowl instead of the school.
Those 3,000 fans were drowned out by an overwhelmingly Navy crowd at Qualcomm Stadium.
Driscoll was optimistic CSU would do no worse than break even financially on the venture, although the final accounting is pending the week’s expenses.
Although Mountain West bowl participants are required to defray expenses with ticket sales, the league pools its bowl money as well as the BCS annual payout to non-automatic qualifying leagues (about $1 million, expected to double next year) to keep members from losing money on bowl ventures.
In contrast, BYU sold an estimated 15,000 for its Las Vegas Bowl appearance against Cal. TCU has sold out its allotment for next week’s Houston Bowl. Utah has yet to hit the 5,000 mark for its Emerald Bowl date, although the Utes have a week to move more tickets.
Scheduling 2006
The MWC wants members to submit dates, not necessarily opponents’ names, by Jan. 1 so the master schedule can be completed by March 3. Driscoll said Colorado and Nevada are definite for next season and Fresno State is currently on the schedule. Weber State still appears in the mix as the 12th game, but Driscoll said the schedule is not ready to be released.
MWC associate commissioner Bret Gilliland said not all league members will schedule a 12th game.
Perfect record
For the ninth time in as many bowl games since 1994, CSU has not sent one player home for disciplinary issues. The early date for the bowl allowed any player who didn’t earn enough academic credits during the fall to participate this week.
