Small crowd expected at New Mexico Bowl

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - There could be a lot of empty seats at Saturday's New Mexico Bowl football game.

The game is supposed to bring fans of both teams to Albuquerque, but apparently people from Arizona and Nevada don't have a ton of interest.

People who do go to the game, however, could be in for a treat with two high-powered offenses and two of the top running backs in college football.

Online: Van Tate's Sports Office - Jeff Siembieda talks N.M. Bowl

This will be the seventh New Mexico Bowl.

The smallest crowd was about 25,000 five years ago. This year's crowd could be a lot smaller.

The last time the University of Nevada played in the New Mexico Bowl was against the University of New Mexico in 2007.  The Wolf Pack didn't score a a touchdown or field goal.

This year, they're not scoring fans.

“We would like to see more, but with so many activities going on at our campus and being so far from Reno. We have basketball as well. We think this is good. Our fans are excited,” says Ricardo Ramos, general manager of sales for the University of Nevada.

Nevada had to buy 10,000 tickets. They say they may only use about a thousand of those, and that is after giving tickets away to New Mexico military families.

That is about 9,000 empty seats right there.

Their opponent Saturday, the University of Arizona, is on the hook for 5,000 tickets but has only sold about a thousand of them.

It is a tough sell with their No. 8- ranked men's basketball team set to face off against No. 5 Florida in Tucson Saturday.

“We have a number of our fans who are going to try to attend both, drive back and forth, which it is physically possible,” says Greg Byrne, the University of Arizona athletic director. “There's a number of folks doing that as well, so we'll have the best showing we possibly can have.”

New Mexico Bowl executive director Jeff Siembieda says 22,000 tickets have been sold, but that includes the 15,000 the schools bought.

Not only could this year's New Mexico Bowl have its lowest paid attendance ever, the stadium could be half-empty with all the no-shows.

”You don't judge the longevity of an event on a single event. Look at our track record,” New Mexico Bowl Executive Director Jeff Siembieda says. “What we're doing for this community is incredibly positive.”

The seventh annual Gildan New Mexico Bowl kicks off at 11 a.m. Saturday.