By JONATHAN BAGLEY
BYU is the favorite to capture the WAC championship. If you’re confident and a wealthy, die hard BYU fan, now is the time to purchase your Cotton Bowl tickets.
Actually, it’s the middle of September. Now they are selling tickets to fans who went to BYU’s victory over Kansas State, giving them the chance to upgrade their seats.
Kansas State fans dwarfed the BYU crowd in ’97. The Jayhawks had 45,000 fans compared to the 10,000 BYU supporters. BYU fans should be ashamed of themselves and not let that happen to their team again. The Cotton Bowl seats 68,252.
If you are a BYU football player, stop reading right now. BYU fans probably do not want you to get it in your head you are automatically going to walk over Rice and Utah.
Even though it is their goal.
“We want to win the WAC and the Cotton Bowl,” said BYU running back Brian McKenzie. “We want the WAC. It has a lot of talent and power.”
Linebacker Spencer Reid agrees.
“We are going to try to bring to this season where we left off last season,” he said. “With all the people we have coming back, we know we can go that far again.”
If you are a fan, here is how you get your tickets. Call 1-214-638-BOWL. Have your Visa or MasterCard ready. Reserved seats are $45 dollars. The Cotton Bowl will also offer to put you on a mailing list to send you information. The Hyatt is the hotel easiest to get to from the airport.
If you buy Cotton Bowl tickets and for some reason BYU does not make it in the game, you can expect to see a Big 12, Pacific 10 conference matchup. Matchups will be announced Dec. 3.
The Cotton Bowl is not obligated to invite a WAC team. The Big 12 is the anchor conference that commands an automatic bid. Not only does a WAC team have to win the conference championship, they have to beat one or two ranked opponents as well.
If BYU does make it to the game, this is what ticket holders can expect.
“Everybody was pumped. Everyone was excited and ready to go,” Reid said.
If BYU should carry that huge Cotton Bowl trophy off the field again, fans can feel free to taunt departing supporters of the loser team. Just like Channel 2 anchor person Susan Furniss did last year during her live broadcast outside the Cotton Bowl.
Last January, Southwestern Bell announced plans for a Cotton Bowl Hall of Fame that will induct its first class in June, 1998. No BYU coaches or players are potential nominees.
The Cotton Bowl was inaugurated in 1937. The game hosted Texas Christian and Marquette, paying each school $10,000. The 1998 contestants will earn between $2 million and $2.5 million, which will increase their total of $110 million they have donated to higher education.
