SU vs. 'Nova March 5 a sellout
NCAA record crowd will give McNamara a proper send-off in his final Dome game.
Thursday, February 23, 2006
For the first time in the building's 26-year history, the Carrier Dome is sold out in advance of a Syracuse University men's basketball game.
The Orange's game against No. 2 Villanova on Sunday, March 5, is a sellout, according to senior associate athletic director Pat Campbell.
"We're within about 20 tickets of a sellout and I expect by the end of the day or shortly after people read this story those tickets will be gone," Campbell said Wednesday afternoon. "I'm amazed. It's really an unheard of thing to sell out in advance."
Campbell called the 20 remaining tickets "Star Wars seats." "They are in the farthest reaches of the upper-level," he said.
The game's allure is the final Dome appearance for Syracuse senior Gerry McNamara. McNamara is the school's sixth all-time scorer, the leading 3-point shooter, leading free-throw shooter, No. 2 in steals and No. 5 in assists.
The Dome's capacity has been tested only on a few occasions. The university stops selling tickets when the only seats remaining have less than a 100 percent view of the court.
Campbell said the NCAA record for attendance at an on-campus arena will be broken on
March 5. Syracuse set the record last season when 33,199 fans watched the Orange defeat Notre Dame 60-57.
But even that game didn't sell out in advance.
"Last year, we had tickets for sale on the day of the game," Campbell said. Campbell knows this year's game will break the NCAA record because last year's Notre Dame game was part of ESPN's GameDay, which meant the network's temporary studio set ate into some lower-level seating. Also adding to this year's attendance is the addition of 200 courtside seats.
"It's going to be a bigger number than last year's Notre Dame game," Campbell said. "What that number is I can't tell you exactly until game day."
Campbell explained that the number of fans who watch from the Dome's luxury boxes can alter the final attendance figure.
Syracuse's biggest crowd this season was 31,190 for the game against Louisville last Saturday. It was the 61st game in the Dome's history with a 30,000-plus crowd.
McNamara's farewell game could finally put the record at an unbreakable height.
As a freshman, McNamara started on Syracuse's national-championship team.
Campbell said 64 buses will charter fans from McNamara's hometown of Scranton, Pa., to his farewell game. At approximately 50 people per bus, that's 3,200 fans.
"We've actually set up a new traffic pattern for them so they can drive right off I-81 and park near the Dome," Campbell said. "The last time, they had to park at Manley (Field House) and Skytop. We tried to make it a little more convenient for them. Scranton's been real good to Syracuse University."
Pretty Amazing..