Northwestern University Athletics
Vitalis Sun Bowl A Positive Experience For Northwestern
1/13/2006 12:00:00 AM | Football
Jan. 13, 2006
EVANSTON, Ill. -- The city of El Paso and the Vitalis Sun Bowl committee promised Northwestern and its football fans "fun in the sun" at its 72nd annual bowl game last month between the Wildcats and UCLA Bruins.
That guarantee, along with the bowl's reputation and Northwestern's strong travel history, helped produce some impressive numbers in terms of fan attendance, merchandise sold and the overall experience.
"In the bowl business, the picture is bigger than just the game itself," said Bernie Olivas, executive director of the Sun Bowl Assocation. "Northwestern proved that by bringing over 8,000 fans to the El Paso area, helping us sell out the game (50,426) for a second straight year. Our merchandise sales were up 20 percent over last year and we completely sold out of Northwestern merchandise."
There were several notables for Northwestern and its 2005 Sun Bowl appearance:
• Northwestern sold nearly 4,000 tickets from its own ticket office, and coupled with tickets purchased through the Sun Bowl and other outlets, produced a fan base in excess of 8,000 people, according to Sun Bowl officials.
• The Northwestern Alumni Association sold out its NAA Tour (287 participants) in three days and the NAA Tailgate (786 participants) was sold out prior to game day.
• The Sun Bowl luncheon, which is open to the public, had a 16 percent increase in sales with a record crowd of 1,600 fans.
• Approximately 35 percent of Northwestern's online sales for the month of December ($73,377) was Sun Bowl merchandise.
• Official Sun Bowl merchandisers saw an increase in sales with no Northwestern gear left by day's end.
• 13.8 million viewers watched the Sun Bowl game on CBS. The broadcast pulled in a 2.6 national television rating with Chicago recording a peak rating of 5.6.
"The Sun Bowl was a tremendous experience for our team and fans," said Mark Murphy, Northwestern's director of athletics. "While we would have liked a different game outcome, every other facet of our experience was positive. The bowl's reputation as being the most hospitable one in the business is certainly well deserved.
"I want to thank all our fans that attended the game in El Paso. I've spoken to several of them since we returned and everyone has raved about the hospitality and experience."
Said Olivas: "Overall, having a successful bowl requires not only a good bowl staff and volunteers, but also two cooperative universities. Both Northwestern University and UCLA were as good as any two organizations we have hosted and it made for a very smooth Vitalis Sun Bowl. I would say the whole experience of hosting Northwestern was a huge success."
