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Outback Bowl sells out; only schools' tickets left

By JAMAL THALJI

© St. Petersburg Times, published December 5, 2000

TAMPA -- Well, that was fast.

The New Year's Day Outback Bowl matchup of Ohio State and South Carolina was declared a sellout by bowl officials in record time on Monday.

Officials said all 65,655 tickets were either disbursed to the respective schools or purchased locally.

"Isn't this terrific?" Outback president Jim McVay said.

With the sellout, the local blackout of the 15th annual game will be lifted, which means the 11 a.m. game at Raymond James Stadium can be viewed on ESPN. The radio broadcast will be on WFLA-AM 970.

South Carolina wanted about 30,000 tickets for its fans but had to settle for about 28,000. Ohio State received 9,000 tickets and those are expected to go fast as well. South Carolina accepted the bowl bid Saturday evening, and Ticketmaster reported it was out of tickets Sunday night, McVay said.

It is just the second sellout in the history of the bowl game, joining the Kentucky-Penn State game in '99, which had an announced crowd of 66,005. (Raymond James Stadium has since been re-configured.)

The 2001 Outback Bowl also will draw the third-largest crowd in the event's history, behind the '99 game and the '90 Hall of Fame Bowl, which drew 68,085 to then-Tampa Stadium to see Auburn-Ohio State.

A sellout increases the payout to each team, from $2-million to more than $2.4-million per school.

"There is a very strong Ohio State base throughout the west coast of Florida, and a lot of alumni," McVay said. "Then South Carolina, I think, is the best story in college football this year, especially turning that football team around the way (coach Lou Holtz) did."

Outback officials expect the game to draw 45,000 out-of-towners.

Said McVay: "Everyone in South Carolina is coming. They're gonna try and get here somehow."

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