A first for FAU

Owls will be first SoFla team to play in the Boca Bowl.

The Boca Raton Bowl for the first time will feature a South Florida team at this year’s game, sparking big demand for tickets, organizers say.

It’ll be a home game for Florida Atlantic University, competing against the University of Akron at 7 p.m. Dec. 19. Ticket sales for the matchup at FAU Stadium are on track to surpass last year’s, even though the teams were just recently announced.

“Ticket sales have been very strong and attendance at our lead-in events has been great,” said Doug Mosley, executive director for the game, which has adopted the sponsor Cheribundi Tart Cherry. He estimates he has sold three times the amount of tickets in the same time frame as last year.

FAU alumni who live out of town and Akron fans are among those expected in Boca Raton for the game, said Glenn Jergenson, executive director for

the Palm Beach County Tourist Development Council.

Plenty of excited FAU alumni are making plans, said Meghan DeFord, assistant vice president of FAU Alumni and Community Affairs. Meetups are set for the Mizner Park pep rally the night before, as well as at the Marleen and Harold Forkas Alumni Center and under the tailgate tent on game day. Details and RSVPs can be found at faualumni.org/ bowlbound.

Game watches are planned in New York, Washington, Chicago, Atlanta and Texas, mostly likely in Dallas.

“It’s so nice to bring it to our alumni across the nation so they can participate in the excitement,” DeFord said. “It’s football in paradise.”

FAU tickets are $55 for seating on the west side of the stadium and parking is $20. Fans should call 866-FAU-OWLS.

The usual 30,000-seat stadium on the Boca Raton campus will be down to 26,419 for the game, because the other seats will be used for other purposes, said Katrina McCormack, an FAU assistant athletic director for media.

The bowl game website is offering hotel packages with special fan rates for the Renaissance Boca Raton, the Wyndham Boca Raton and the Boca Raton Resort & Club, where the FAU team is staying; PGA National Resort, where Akron is staying; and the Marriott Palm Beach Gardens, Mosley said.

Mosley said Akron had turned back 3,000 tickets for the community, which will be given out philanthropically through the game’s charity partner, Spirit of Giving.

“We have the privilege of distributing the returned tickets to local nonprofit agencies for the families they serve. At this point, we already have over 8,000 requests for these complimentary tickets,” said Sue Diener, Spirit’s executive director. “Last year we distributed over 7,500 and anticipate distributing a similar number this year.”

For Spirit’s complimentary tickets, organizations such as local nonprofits or schools may register at spiritofgivingnetwork.com. Requests are time stamped and on a first-come, first-served basis, she said.

Although it’s the first time FAU will play in the Boca Raton Bowl, it’s not the school’s first bowl game. The Owls last competed in a bowl in 2008, when they won 24-21 against Central Michigan in the Motor City Bowl.

The Boca Raton Bowl has been held three times before, each time featuring out-of-state teams:

■ In the inaugural game in 2014, Marshall defeated Northern Illinois, 52-23.

■ In 2015, Toledo bested Temple, 32-17.

■ In 2016, Western Kentucky beat Memphis, 51-31.