For Christmas, Utes in Red, Not Green

When the Las Vegas Bowl extended invitations to USC and Utah last month, the Utes were expected to pack the stands with crimson-clad faithful.

When Utah played in this game two years ago, a horde of 12,000 streamed down Interstate 15 from Salt Lake City. But this time the bowl will be played on Dec. 25, and that presents a problem.

“I talk to people who tell me they can’t leave grandpa and grandma home alone at Christmas,” said Dave Copier, Utah’s director of athletic ticket sales. “What am I supposed to say?”

The timing has not been as problematic in Los Angeles, however. Tickets are selling briskly and David Carter, who teaches sports business at USC, is only half joking when he offers an explanation.

“We’re chock full of heathens in Southern California,” Carter said, “especially USC people who would sell their souls for a bowl game.”

Three years have passed since the Trojans last appeared in the postseason and the hunger is such that USC has sold 5,200 tickets despite the inconvenient date. Steve Lopes, an associate athletic director, expects the total to surpass 6,000 in coming weeks.

A Utah official, meanwhile, used the word “ugly” to describe sales that could peak at 4,000 or lower. The Utes have television to thank for their struggles.

The networks have long enjoyed a college football presence on Christmas, a role filled by the Aloha and, more recently, the Oahu Bowl. When those games disbanded--one of them moved to the mainland and became the Seattle Bowl--there was a gap in Dec. 25 programming.

Coincidentally, ESPN took ownership of the Las Vegas Bowl last spring and began negotiations with its sister company, ABC, to fill the void.

The switch was made in August and should boost television ratings. But it made things tougher on the participating teams. Each will receive an $800,000 payout, but must buy 12,500 tickets at $50 each.

USC officials were unsure how many of those tickets they could sell. They took the financial risk because they had a safety net.

The Pacific 10 Conference subsidizes its teams for up to half of their allotments, paying for unsold tickets from its collective bowl revenues. This policy was established to help Pac-10 teams that went to the Hawaiian bowls, a particularly difficult sell. “It didn’t seem right that a team should go to a bowl game and get stuck for the whole tab,” assistant commissioner Jim Muldoon said.

USC knew it had to sell only 6,250 tickets to break even. And, in a more serious moment, Carter says the Trojans were selling to a strong market.

“There is a renewed sense of excitement....People really want to support the program,” he said, adding that fans might be willing to spend Christmas away from home because “Southern California has generally a more accepting or liberal bent.”

The market in Salt Lake City is, apparently, different.

On Thursday, Utah Coach Ron McBride went to Las Vegas with USC Coach Pete Carroll to help try to drum up excitement for the game. They attended a news conference at a casino on the Strip and were flanked by showgirls dressed in feathered headbands and skimpy costumes. McBride called the game a “present to our players and fans.”

But a few hours north, Utah officials conceded that many fans would be enjoying that gift on television. The university has gone so far as to ask loyal alumni to buy tickets if only to donate them to students or charities.

“Christmas is just a tougher day than we anticipated,” Copier said. “It took me three weeks to convince my wife to go.”

LAS VEGAS BOWL

USC (6-5) vs. UTAH (7-4)

Dec. 25, 12:30 p.m., Channel 7