BOWLING GREEN - Can't make it to the GMAC Bowl? Now you can send someone in your place.
The Bowling Green State University athletic department, in conjunction with the GMAC Bowl, has introduced a program that will allow underprivileged children to attend the Jan. 6 game in Mobile, Ala., between the Falcons and Tulsa. Donated tickets will be distributed to youth charities in the Mobile area, which was affected by Hurricane Katrina.
"It's a nice way for the fans to support the team even if they can't make it to the bowl game," said BG athletic director Greg Christopher.
It is also an opportunity for BG to sell a larger percentage of its 7,500 allotted tickets. Christopher said ticket sales are on pace to match the 1,300 for the 2004 GMAC Bowl when the Falcons defeated Memphis. Tickets are $45 and discounted at $20 for BG students. Tickets can be purchased at or by calling the BG ticket office or online at the school's Web site.
"Bowling Green has a commitment to purchase a set number of tickets so it's important for us to sell as many of those tickets as possible," Christopher said. "Of course, we'd like to have as many fans in the stadium as possible."
Tulsa's director of communications, Don Tomkalski, could not say how many tickets the university had sold but did state that more than 4,500 were purchased last year when the Golden Hurricane played in the Armed Forces Bowl in Forth Worth."The first couple of days we sold a few hundred," Tomkalski said. "With a late bowl we expect that to pick up."
Christopher said the BG athletic department is considering offering a package that would allow fans to fly to Mobile on Jan. 6 and fly home shortly after the game.
"We are looking into the feasibility of that and may have something in a day or two," Christopher said.
The University is offering students a travel package that includes transportation by bus, lodging and a ticket to the game, all for $200. The bus will leave Jan. 4 and return Jan. 7.
Students who purchase the travel package will not have to adhere to first day attendance policies, provided they make prior contact with their professors. Jan. 7 is the first day of the spring semester at BG.
Contact Ryan Autullo at:
rautullo@theblade.com.
DOWNLOAD/PRINT: College football 
Search
advertisement
