School sells out Peach Bowl ticket allotment
UCF sold out its 12,500-ticket allotment to the Peach Bowl, setting a record as the first Group of 5 program to sell out its tickets in the College Football Playoff era.
The sellout was officially announced after the 5 p.m. Wednesday deadline for Golden Knights Club donors to place deposits and apply for tickets.
“I’m not surprised that we sold out of our ticket allotment in record time,” UCF Athletic Director Danny White said in a news release issued by the bowl. “I told [Peach Bowl CEO and president] Gary Stokan that Knight Nation would support their team and support the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl if we were fortunate enough to be invited and our fans did just that.
“We can’t wait to get to Atlanta and celebrate this amazing team and this magical season with our great fans.”
Bowl officials called UCF’s sellout of its allotment during three days one of the fastest in the history of the game.
“UCF fans have made a huge statement coming out in full force to support their undefeated and 12th-ranked Knights,” Gary said in the news release. “We’re quickly approaching a game sellout and expect it to be a full house with an unbelievable atmosphere as we ring in the New Year with our 50th anniversary game.”
It’s unclear whether the Knights will be able to provide tickets for every fan who put down a deposit through UCF during the past three days.
Tickets will be sold to fans based on their level of points, which are earned based on UCF donations and ticket purchases. Fans will be notified Monday whether they made the cut.
Fans who don’t end up with tickets for the game between No. 12 UCF and No. 7 Auburn on Jan. 1 can find a limited number of general admission tickets at Chick-filAPeachBowl.com/tickets. Fans can also purchase secondary market tickets through Ticketmaster.com. The game will be at the 71,000-seat Mercedes-Benz Stadium, which opened this summer in Atlanta. The stadium’s capacity can expand to 83,000 for football.
UCF students camped out for the right to purchase their portion of the Knights’ Peach Bowl allotment and donors quickly signed into their accounts to apply for tickets.
UCF officials stressed the importance of buying tickets through the school, noting the Knights would be responsible for paying for their allotment of tickets regardless of whether they could actually sell them to fans. Buying directly from the Peach Bowl or a secondary retailer would not help UCF fulfill its bowl ticket sales obligations. In the past, other Group of 5 teams have racked up signficant bills going to major bowls because they struggled to sell all their tickets.
UCF’s previous win over Baylor in the Fiesta Bowl and the relatively close proximity of the game being played in Atlanta likely helped drive up ticket sales depsite coach Scott Frost’s departure to Nebraska. The school had already alerted the Peach Bowl it would soon be able to officially announce a sellout before the Knights introduced new coach Josh Heupel.