Richard GwinIt looks like Kansas University football fans will be sleeping in the desert on New Year’s Eve.
On Friday, KU started selling tickets for the game to the Insight Bowl on Dec. 31 in Tempe, Ariz. Big 12 Conference officials said the arrangement was all but official.
Fans who can’t wait to see more of Todd Reesing, Kerry Meier, Darrell Stuckey, James Holt and the rest of the Jayhawks in action after last week’s thrilling Border War win over Missouri will want to start nailing down their travel plans soon, travel experts said.
Kansas Athletics Inc., on its Web site, was listing tickets for $55 on Friday for Williams Educational Fund members and the public and $25 for students. KU’s ticket office phone number is 1-800-34-HAWKS.
The Insight Bowl’s official Web site lists tickets from $20 to $80.
Walt Houk, president of Travellers Inc., 831 Mass., said his firm — one of many offering bowl packages — had received calls and inquiries last week from fans. The company will start offering its three-day tour package over the weekend on its Web site, www.travellersinc.com, and company representatives will begin taking calls from people Monday morning.
“I think there’s fan excitement. I don’t think there’s as much excitement as going to the Orange Bowl or a BCS bowl, but there’s definitely an excitement,” Houk said.
The biggest chore might be figuring out how to get to Arizona so soon after Christmas.
Tempe is about 1,300 miles from Lawrence, but gasoline prices have dropped significantly in the last few weeks. Round-trip flights from Kansas City International Airport to Phoenix have been listed in the range of $400 to $500 per ticket on the low end at several brokers’ Web sites.
KU’s official hotels are the Doubletree Paradise Valley Resort and the Firesky Resort and Spa, both in Scottsdale, Ariz.
Travel packages and tours — not including game tickets — were also listed Friday for Williams fund members at www.jayhawksportstravel.com by Premiere College Sports and Dodds Athletic Tours.
On Friday, bowl packages from Dec. 29 to Jan. 1 were listed at $1,610 per person for a room with two adults, including airfare from Kansas City or Wichita. Without airline tickets, the cost was $805. The packages include a shuttle to the game.
Last week, some individual travel Web sites also listed hotel prices around Tempe or the Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport as low as $40 per night to more than $100 for the few days around the game.
Even though it’s not a BCS bowl game and the economy might play a factor, Houk said he expects the Jayhawks to still draw a crowd to the game.
“In my opinion, it’s a better spot to spend the holiday season than Florida is probably,” he said.
