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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Thursday, July 27, 2006

UH to open in front of sellout crowd of 92,138

By Ferd Lewis
Advertiser Staff Writer

If you want a ticket to the University of Hawai'i's football season opener at Alabama, you might be out of luck.

The Sept. 2 game in Tuscaloosa, Ala., was declared a sellout July 17, the first day that individual tickets went on sale there, Crimson Tide officials said.

Bryant-Denny Stadium will seat 92,138 when expansion is finished next month, Alabama officials said. The upgrade from the previous capacity, 83,818, will make it the sixth-largest college football stadium.

Tickets for four other Alabama home games are still on sale, according to the school's Web site.

Chris Besanceney, UA assistant athletic director for ticketing, attributed the Alabama-UH sellout to "coming off the Cotton Bowl win, 10-2 season last year, top 20 recruiting class and, yes, the stadium addition."

Under terms of its contract with Alabama, UH was allowed to request "up to 7,000" tickets to sell on its own. Rather than be stuck with unsold tickets, UH asked for 2,000, an allotment that has already been exhausted, a UH spokesman said.

Panda Travel, which is running tours to the game, said it might have a few tickets available.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com.

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