Formerly Bereft Fans Score Tickets for Big Game

On a day when Rose Bowl tickets were as rare as a warm New Year’s Day in Michigan, Victor Herrera sat alone in a vacant hotel ballroom, staring at two big-screen televisions.

Surrounded by 20 empty tables, Herrera munched on a hot dog as he watched his team, Michigan, beat Washington State for its first national championship in 50 years. Behind him, heating dishes warmed hundreds of uneaten Swedish meatballs, potato skins and taco shells. Five hotel waiters lingered nearby, waiting to clear a plate.

The 46-year-old Detroit man apparently was among only a handful of Michigan fans who didn’t find a way into the Rose Bowl on Thursday after their tour operator initially failed to come up with tickets for the 300-person group earlier this week.

Although prices soared as high as $1,000 per ticket in the days leading up to the game, most of the stiffed Wolverine fans apparently wound up inside the stadium--though some paid extra for the privilege.

One employee of the ticket broker, Worldwide Sport Travel Inc., said the company managed to find tickets for everyone. By kickoff time, in fact, the company had too many tickets, the employee said, allowing the company owner to watch the game from inside the stadium.

“Everyone was taken care of,” said an employee who identified himself as Rick Sheppard. “Things were blown way out of proportion.”

But Herrera told a different story. Warner Center Marriott managers called police Tuesday evening, fearing that the ticketless fans were on the verge of rioting. After that incident, Herrera said, Worldwide negotiated a series of deals with fans that culminated in a meeting on New Year’s Eve.

One by one, he said, fans were escorted by security guards into a room with Worldwide officials and given the option of paying an extra $250 for each ticket--money above the $1,500 most had already invested in the package. For those who didn’t pay the extra money, the company offered a $500-per-person refund. Herrera chose the latter, but said he was skeptical Thursday that he’d ever see the money.

“They have broken so many promises,” he said. ‘I just didn’t want to pay any more money.”

Few fans appeared to share Herrera’s feelings on New Year’s Day. The parking lot outside the Rose Bowl resembled a traders’ pit at the New York Stock Exchange, with potential buyers holding signs or signaling with one or two fingers the number of tickets they wanted to buy. Sellers approached furtively to close the illegal deals on tickets with a face value of $75.

Ross Peabody, 42, a Washington State fan from Carlsbad, said he watched prices slip from $600 apiece at 8 a.m. to $300 by the 2 p.m. game time. Peabody, who said he’s attended every Rose Bowl since 1980, said this was the first year he was unable to find reasonably priced tickets.

He was holding out for cheaper tickets for himself and his son.

“I’m not optimistic,” said Peabody as he glumly surveyed the parking lot. “If we do get in, it’ll be in the second quarter. There are a lot more buyers than sellers out here.”

Others decided the game was worth the price. Friends Ian Tilley and Jenna Scanlon spent the night in a car in Pasadena to get up early enough Thursday morning to secure tickets.

They had set a limit of $200, but broke down to buy one ticket for $300. By game time, the two Michigan fans were still searching for another, but taking it all in stride.

“It’s been great,” Scanlon said. “Getting into the game will be the icing on the cake.”