According to The Florida Times Union, only 40,000 tickets have been sold for this weekend's Florida State vs. Colorado game. The Gator Bowl officials are hopeful that they will get 10,000 - 15,000 walk ups from the local Jacksonville population. I don't think you can expect 15,000 to show up the day of the game.The Times Union puts this in perspective:
That's a contrast to last year's FSU-Alabama game in Jacksonville, which was a sellout weeks before kickoff and set an attendance record for the stadium since it was rebuilt in 1995.
Of course, proximity of Alabama to Jacksonville is much closer than the trip from Colorado but one has to wonder how Florida State feels about this situation now. For comparison purposes, Jacksonville Municipal holds up to 84,000 but for Jacksonville games they only sell about 65,000 a game. That means 69% of the stadium will be occupied if we assume 45,000 fans at a capacity of 65,000. Only 27,000 of those tickets were sold to fans who bought from Florida State meaning only 41% of the possible 65,000 seats will be die hard FSU fans while the other allotment is for Jacksonville residents and CU fans. I wouldn't really designate Jacksonville residents die hard FSU fans. If the game was played at Doak Campbell, you could expect 78,000 FSU fans and anywhere from 2,000 - 3,000 Buff fans. Something tells me Bobby Bowden wishes he could switch this game back to Tallahassee. Could be embarrassing for FSU on regional TV as well to have so many open seats. You have to love not playing in a hostile enviroment if you are a Buffs fan. Talk about a break for the Buffs!