Inside Iowa State
December 21, 2000
Bowl preparation requires more than football scrimmages
by Debra Gibson
While visions of bowl victories are dancing in most
Cyclone fans' heads, some staff members across campus barely
have time to sleep these days, let alone dream. For the past
month, they have been immersed in preparations for the
Insight.com Bowl game, and Dec. 28 won't come any too
soon.
Once the words "bowl eligible" became the ISU mantra back in November, Jan Breitman began doggedly researching hotels, airlines, bus companies and possible party locations in each of the cities mentioned as potential sites. Breitman, director of alumni travel for the ISU Alumni Association, linked up with a professional tour company, and turned to the association's Web site to market the deal.
"In no time, we had 1,100 responses to our message that we would be offering the university's official travel package to a bowl game," Breitman said. She and other association staff members spent Sunday evening, Dec. 3, encamped at the Alumni Suite, putting the final touches on the just-announced Phoenix package. By evening's end, the alumni association's Web site directed interested alumni to the tour company to book passages to the bowl game.
The full travel package offered by the alumni association includes roundtrip airfare, three nights' stay at the Hyatt Regency hotel, game ticket, pregame party admissions and other travel incidentals. The full package costs $1,225 per adult and $895 per child. According to Breitman, around 700 people have purchased association travel packages to date, filling three chartered airplanes.
Anyone attending the bowl game may attend a spirit rally on Wednesday evening, Dec. 27, at the Symphony Hall Terrace, across the street from the Hyatt Regency, according to Breitman. The association and the athletic department also will sponsor a pregame party on Dec. 28 at the Leinenkugel's Ballyard Brewery in front of the stadium.
More than 10,000 bowl game tickets have been purchased through the university, according to David Crum, ticket office manager, "and even more fans are purchasing their tickets through Insight.com," Crum said. The ISU Athletic Ticket Office allowed its football season ticket holders to purchase bowl game tickets back in mid-November, before a specific bowl game was even announced. More than 5,500 ticket orders had been recorded by Dec. 4, when the site was known and public sales began. Of the bowl game's total ticket sales, more than 1,000 tickets, or about 10 percent, have been purchased through the athletic department's Web site, according to Crum.
By the time the bowl location was announced, Mary Ellen Metzger was packing for an advance trip to Phoenix. It's her job to determine what the ISU football players will eat while they're on the road. Overseeing the training table for the football team is part of Metzger's responsibilities as food service manager for Linden Hall. She will travel with the team when it departs from Ames on Dec. 22.
She spent several days in early December working with hotel staff and catering managers in Phoenix, arranging menus and dining schedules for the team. Though the players will have opportunities earlier in their trip to dine on their own, their meals will become more controlled closer to game day.
"I'll make sure their dietary requirements are met, and that there will be enough options to make everyone happy," Metzger said. "We also need to make sure their fluid intake is good, since they'll be playing in a much drier climate."
According to Metzger, the team will be guests at a Christmas dinner hosted by Insight.com, and the hotel is planning a cook-out for the men as well. The rest of the time?
"There will be a lot of buffets," Metzger said.
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