Written by Joe Klawe
Orlando, FL- The Michigan Wolverines and Florida Gators will make their fifth and sixth Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl appearances this season and the first featuring the two since 2008, CEO of Florida Citrus Sports Steve Hogan and Chairman Ken Potrock announced Sunday.
“A game I think the country will be paying a bit of attention to as we renew a game we had fun with in this market in 2008,” said Hogan at the Citrus Bowl. “We think likewise, and there’s a pretty good chance there won’t be any tickets available for public sale – we’ll see.”
The previous year hosted two out-of-state teams and concerns were raised on how fans would make the trip down to Florida. Historically, Florida’s games have pulled in numbers to the tune of 60,000 and higher in Orlando.
Hogan responded by stating there should be no problem drawing in a full stadium, or two, to the nationally televised event with the addition of the in-state team.
“Across the board, this is the best possible matchup we could have put together,” Hogan said. We think this will set the new stadium’s all-time attendance record for sure. If this is anything like 2008, if we could build two citrus bowls we could fill it up. We totally expect we could set the new stadium’s attendance record with this matchup.”
“My understanding was the ticket meter was flipping like a car odometer pretty quickly.”
Both teams signed on new head coaches and the opportunity for recruiting builds with a win in the window of a New Year’s Day bowl game.
The 2016 Buffalo Wild Wings Citrus Bowl ushers in the new year on January 1st at 1 p.m. ET.
“A game I think the country will be paying a bit of attention to as we renew a game we had fun with in this market in 2008,” said Hogan at the Citrus Bowl. “We think likewise, and there’s a pretty good chance there won’t be any tickets available for public sale – we’ll see.”
The previous year hosted two out-of-state teams and concerns were raised on how fans would make the trip down to Florida. Historically, Florida’s games have pulled in numbers to the tune of 60,000 and higher in Orlando.
Hogan responded by stating there should be no problem drawing in a full stadium, or two, to the nationally televised event with the addition of the in-state team.
“Across the board, this is the best possible matchup we could have put together,” Hogan said. We think this will set the new stadium’s all-time attendance record for sure. If this is anything like 2008, if we could build two citrus bowls we could fill it up. We totally expect we could set the new stadium’s attendance record with this matchup.”
“My understanding was the ticket meter was flipping like a car odometer pretty quickly.”
Both teams signed on new head coaches and the opportunity for recruiting builds with a win in the window of a New Year’s Day bowl game.
The 2016 Buffalo Wild Wings Citrus Bowl ushers in the new year on January 1st at 1 p.m. ET.