ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, December 9, 1995 TAG: 9512100004
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RANDY KING STAFF WRITER
Virginia Tech football fans still in need of Sugar Bowl tickets will have to turn somewhere besides the school's ticket office.
Tech announced Friday afternoon it has sold all the tickets it will be allotted from the New Orleans-based bowl.
Tech was supposed to put a second allotment of 2,400 tickets on sale Friday, but ran short of that figure after it honored phone and fax requests taken Monday through Wednesday for its original allotment of 15,000 tickets.
Jeff Bourne, Tech associate athletic director-business manager, said Friday that requests for the original 15,000 allotment poured in so quickly that ticket-office personnel couldn't program all the orders into the computer fast enough to get a completely accurate figure.
When totaling up the phone and fax requests, Bourne said the school had had to take approximately 800 tickets from the second allotment simply to fill earlier orders.
Therefore, only 1,600 tickets were available for sale Friday instead of 2,400.
Many people left the Tech ticket office Friday disappointed after being told the school had no more tickets for the Dec.31 meeting with Texas.
``As mad as some people are,'' said Tech athletic director Dave Braine, ``it's a great problem to have. We simply can't supply everybody's demand for tickets.''
Braine said tickets can still be found.
``There are several entities in New Orleans still selling tickets,'' he said. ``I suggest people look in newspapers and such. There are tickets still to be had, you've just got to find them.''
Meanwhile, Braine said details have been finalized for the move of Tech's Dec.31 basketball game with Wright State from Blacksburg to New Orleans. The teams will play at noon (11 a.m. CDT) at the 9,000-seat Lakefront Arena on the University of New Orleans campus.
Tickets for the basketball game, which go on sale Monday at 9 a.m., can be obtained by calling TicketMaster at 1-800-488-5252 or the University of New Orleans ticket office at 504-286-7222. All tickets are $12, with seating on a first-come, first-serve basis.
LENGTH: Short : 47 linesby CNB