Texas Tech appears to have pulled its weight at the ticket window, giving next week’s Alamo Bowl a chance to have a near-capacity crowd.

The Alamodome has a listed capacity of 65,000, and more than 60,000 tickets have been sold for the game, Alamo Bowl official Rick Hill said Wednesday.

“We’re excited,’’ said Hill, the game’s vice president for marketing. “It’s over 60,000, and it’s trending to be very close to capacity by game day. We were trying to get to 60 (thousand) by the game date, so we’re more than a week ahead of that schedule.’’

Hill said he wouldn’t have a more specific ticket-sales number until the weekend.

Tech (8-4) and Michigan State (6-6) play in the 17th Alamo Bowl at 8 p.m. Jan. 2. Red Raiders players have Wednesday through Sunday off, then travel to San Antonio on Monday and work out Monday night at Incarnate Word, their practice site for the week.

Tech sold 14,800 tickets through its athletic ticket office, according to assistant athletic director Dave Welsh. A Michigan State spokesman said through last weekend MSU had sold about half its allotment, which would be about 5,500 tickets.

“The good news is both schools (accurately) saying what they were going to do,’’ Hill said. “We knew Michigan State on a 6-6 year was not going to (sell) their full allotment. We were excited that Texas Tech told us they were going to move between 14,000 and 15,000, and they’re on the high side of that. The fact we could actually get to a full 65,000 by game day is a great tribute to Texas Tech fans and their loyalty to the program.’’

Of the previous 16 Alamo Bowls, six drew crowds of at least 64,000, and three others topped 60,000.

After this year’s game, the Alamo Bowl will end its association with the Big Ten Conference, which has supplied a team for 16 of the first 17 years. Next year, the Alamo Bowl will have first choice of Pac 10 Conference teams after the BCS selections and, in the Big 12 Conference, second choice behind the Cotton Bowl after the BCS selections.

Ostensibly, the Alamo Bowl will be getting the slots that have belonged to the Holiday Bowl in recent years. To earn those selection rights, the Alamo Bowl will increase its total payout from the current $2.25 million per participating conference to at least $3 million per conference.

To comment on this story:
don.williams@lubbockonline.com l 766-8734
courtney.linehan@lubbockonline.com l 766-8735