NMSU’s bowl appearance may affect Sun Bowl attendance

The 84th anniversary Sun Bowl game is scheduled for Dec. 29 – the same day as the Arizona Bowl..

Normally, this wouldn’t make a difference, but this year the New Mexico State Aggies will be playing in Tucson for the Arizona Bowl game, the school’s first bowl appearance in 57 years.

“I know a lot of people that are coming from Las Cruces that have already made that tough choice on whether or not they will drive to Tucson or El Paso” said Hyundai Sun Bowl media relations director Eddie Morelos. “I am pretty confident we will have a nice amount of fans from Las Cruces.”

Morelos told ABC-7 nearly 80 percent of all ticket sales for the Sun Bowl come from the Borderland.

Norm, an NMSU alumnas who has been going to the Sun Bowl for the past two decades says he will be trading in his tickets to watch his alma mater. “I am OK with breaking this tradition,” he said, “What an opportunity and we may never see it again.”

Although some Aggie fans will be heading west to Tucson, Morelos is confident in the current ticket sales for the Sun Bowl. “At this point of time last year, before we made the announcement, we sold more tickets than the previous year, so that is very positive.”

Last year, the Sun Bowl saw about 42,000 fans, which was more than the year before.