Stanford sells out Rose Bowl ticket allotment

Stanford Athletics announced on Monday that it has sold out its ticket allotment for the 102nd Rose Bowl Game, marking the third time in four years that Stanford fans have purchased the school’s entire allocation of tickets for the Jan. 1 bowl game.

The entire allotment of 28,000 tickets for Stanford plus an additional block of 2,000 tickets that the Rose Bowl Game granted to the school were claimed by Monday through a combination of “Deferred Bowl Game Ticket Applications” for season ticket holders and donors, a lottery for alumni, and student ticket sales.

According to Stanford Athletics, the 30,000 total tickets allotted to Stanford fans was the largest bowl ticket allotment to a single institution this year. Iowa, whose fans reportedly requested over 54,000 tickets, was only allotted a total of 22,000 tickets.

In comparison, Stanford was allotted 31,000 tickets for the 99th Rose Bowl and 30,000 for the 100th Rose Bowl. Iowa’s allotment of 22,000 is a decrease from the 24,000 given to both Wisconsin and Michigan State for the 99th and 100th Rose Bowls.

Tickets for the Rose Bowl Game are always distributed through a combination of allotments to both institutions, limited public sales and an allotment for residents of the City of Pasadena.

The “Deferred Bowl Game Ticket Applications” were granted to Stanford season ticket holders, lifetime donors to Stanford Athletics of $100,000 or more and 2014-15 donors of $1,000 or more. Meanwhile, general alumni were able to enter the ticket raffle for $7 per entry, after which, if selected, they were obligated to purchase tickets for $150 each.

Red Zone student ticket sales, which ended Monday morning, allowed Stanford students to purchase one ticket for $75 and up to two “companion” tickets for $150 each.

This was a significant change from how Stanford Athletics conducted Rose Bowl ticket sales in 2013, when Stanford had a pre-sale of four guaranteed tickets apiece to both season ticket holders and people who put a deposit down for 2014 season tickets, which caused controversy when it was revealed that a non-trivial number of Michigan State fans put down the season ticket deposit just so that they could dig into Stanford’s ticket allotment.

Tickets for this year’s Rose Bowl on the secondary market are the most expensive of any bowl this season (including the College Football Playoff bowls), with the cheapest tickets on StubHub priced at $450 each as of press time, as compared to $36 for the Orange Bowl and $104 for the Cotton Bowl.

The 102nd Rose Bowl Game will mark the first ever meeting between Stanford and Iowa. The last time the Hawkeyes were in the Rose Bowl was in 1991, when Iowa lost to Washington. Meanwhile, Stanford will be playing in its third Rose Bowl in four seasons, marking the first time since 1934-36 that the program has accomplished such a feat.

The game will kick off at 2 p.m. on Jan. 1 in Pasadena, with an ABC broadcast.

Contact Do-Hyoung Park at dhpark ‘at’ stanford.edu.