Georgia Tech "has sold about 5,000 tickets out of its allotment of 15,000" for Wednesday's Capital One Orange Bowl matchup against Mississippi State and "will be required to absorb the cost of the remaining tickets," according to Ken Sugiura of the ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION. Ticket prices available on the secondary market are "almost certainly ... slowing sales for the ticket office." GT's price range "is $99 for a ticket in the upper corners of Sun Life Stadium to $235 for lower sideline seats." Tickets were available Tuesday afternoon on Stubhub "for as low as $3.50." Lower sideline seats on the Tech side of the field "were available for $63.75." GT AD Mike Bobinski said, "The reality is that there was a pretty active secondary market that emerged about the same time that we went out with full-priced tickets." He added that some fans "may have chosen to stay home after having made the trip" to Charlotte earlier this month for the ACC championship game against Florida State. GT "sold out its allotment of 5,500 tickets for that game and actually sold extra tickets in adjacent sections" of Bank of America Stadium. Meanwhile, MSU is "playing in its first major bowl" since '99 and its first Orange Bowl since '41. The school "has sold 11,000 tickets out of its allotment" (AJC.com, 12/30).
KICKOFF COUNTDOWN: In Ft. Lauderdale, Craig Davis writes Wednesday's Orange Bowl "heralds a new era for the game on New Year's Eve for eight of the next 12 years." Orange Bowl Committee CEO Eric Poms said that time slot "is preferable to some recent years when it was played on week nights following the holiday." He added that the game "was within a couple thousand tickets of a sellout, but a packed house is questionable" (South Florida SUN-SENTINEL, 12/31). In Miami, Greg Cote writes the Orange Bowl being on New Year's Eve "will contribute negatively to what likely will be a less-than-capacity crowd." The media turnout "has been modest," and tickets "are available, cheap." But the game is "perfectly capable of being the star attraction even when the matchup might be lacking." The game's "rich history makes every renewal of it a major event no matter the participants" (MIAMI HERALD, 12/31).
