82nd Sun Bowl sees fewest fans since 1982

day after christmas in 34 years. coupled with the bad weather, that added up to the smallest announced attendance for a sun bowl game since 1982. abc-7’s darren hunt, who has covered more than a quarter century of sun bowls, is live with the details … darren. evan and josie, despite the date of the game this year and the weather, many here thought today’s announced crowd of 41,180 was about the best sun bowl officials could have hoped for. pkg “i’ve been to quite a few o these.” el paso sport journalist ray sanchez has seen more sun bowls than perhaps anyone. “ever since 1950 when i started at the el paso herald post … i guess i’ve covered what, 65 of them?” bu perhaps none in this kind of weather. “not the ideal weather day … “oh it’s not bad, but the crowd is still out here … i am surprised how many people are out here … just goes to show you how important the sun bowl is to the people of el pasoans.” “another success in your eyes?” “oh absolutely, when you look a what this means to this city and the people that came out here today, i think it’s great, it’s awesome.” “just a few minutes into th first quarter of the 82nd annual sun bowl game, it started to snow heavily here at sun bowl stadium.” “what’s the weather like at hom today?” “it’s hot, it’s hot, it’s alway hot … we never get snow.” while miami fans struggled to keep warm, washington state fans seemed to relish the cold. “you’re used to this then huh?” “oh it’s like a home game.” while it chased some locals away, others enjoyed the snow, even if it was a day late for christmas. “were you expecting this today? “uh yeah, according to dopple dave yes … he was right on … yeah he was right on this time … love you doppler!” “what do you have to say to the people who didn’t come out here today because of the weather?” “you’re missing it … yeah the shoulda came … this is fun man … snow, whatever, rain, whatever.” the good news is the next four years the sun bowl will be played further away from christmas … and as for the crowd being the smallest in 33 years, since sun bowl stadium was expanded: “the weather had a little bit t do with it … the ticket sales pretty close to normal … it is beautiful football weather, it is perfect, perfect football weather.” reporter live 2-shot one sun bowl official told me this is the first year he tried to give tickets away to the game and there were no takers. clearly the date of the game and the weather were huge factors … all adding up to the smallest sun bowl crowd since 1982. evan and josie.