Rose Bowl becomes hottest ticket in town

IOWA CITY — Anyone who saw the sea of black and gold Saturday in Lucas Oil Stadium can agree that, when it comes to Iowa football, the Hawkeye faithful travel well.

Granted, Indianapolis is a short road trip compared with the roughly 1,800 miles to Pasadena, Calif., where Iowa will face Stanford in the Jan. 1 Rose Bowl.

But with Iowa returning to the bowl game after a quarter-century hiatus, you can expect plenty of Hawkeyes in those stands. Just ask those selling tickets.

'It's a red-hot market, fan enthusiasm is through the roof,' said Jeff Kueter, president and chief executive officer of the University of Iowa Alumni Association.

The association's roughly $3,900 land-and-air bowl package, which provides a charter flight, four nights in a top-end hotel, a ticket to the game and travel to and from the airport, hotel and stadium, sold out in less than 24 hours after it was announced Iowa would play in the Rose Bowl, Kueter said.

In fact, tickets went so fast that as of Monday, Kueter said he had nothing left available and was weighing demand and remaining options to see if the association could offer more alternatives.

Kueter said he expects to send between 1,700 and 2,000 people to Pasadena on travel packages.

Considering the hype surrounding this season and how famously well Iowa fans travel, Kueter said those numbers aren't shocking.

That said, fan enthusiasm is at a fever pitch, he noted, comparing the Rose Bowl to Iowa's appearance in the TaxSlayer Bowl in Jacksonville, Fla., last season.

'I'd say it's five times what we took to the TaxSlayer,' he said.

Those planning to attend the Rose Bowl should anticipate shelling out a pretty penny to get in the stadium.

According to StubHub, Rose Bowl tickets listed Monday range from $560 to more than $5,000.

Ticketnetwork and TicketCity have similar prices, with tickets ranging from $500 to more than $3,000.

Another option for season ticket holders and I-Club members is through the UI Athletics Department, which has been allotted 20,0000 tickets for the bowl game.

Ticket prices range from $150 to $185 with season ticket holders and I-Club members getting first priority and others being placed on a waitlist, according to a news release from the UI Athletics Department.

Fans who purchase tickets before the 5 p.m. Thursday priority deadline will be assigned seat location. Tickets will remain available after the Thursday deadline until sold out, but Iowa's sports information director Steve Roe said he expects tickets to be highly sought.

'We're expecting high demand,' he said.

Officials with Rose Bowl Game — which already sold about 4,500 tickets for $150 each to the game in November — said another wave of $150 tickets will go on sale on Ticketmaster at 10 a.m. Tuesday Iowa time.

Karen Linhart, media director with Rose Bowl Game, said fans should act quickly as the number of tickets available will be 'extremely limited.'

'We recommend people try their best, but they're going to be snatched up pretty fast,' she said.

With tickets expected to sell fast to the more than 92,500-seat Rose Bowl stadium, there are many Iowans who simply will not make it to Pasadena.

But some of the roses are coming here. Officials with Hy-Vee floral departments in Iowa City, Coralville and Cedar Rapids teamed up this week to put roses on display.

On Monday, the Stew and LeNore Hansen Football Performance Center was decorated in more than 4,000 yellow roses — close to 200 arrangements — to celebrate Iowa's return to the Rose Bowl.

'The football complex will be adorned with 4,000 yellow roses to get everybody psyched for a trip we haven't taken in 25 years,' said Laurel Hallopeter, with Iowa City's First Avenue Hy-Vee floral department.