North Carolina State University Athletics
Tony Haynes: No Room at the Inn
9/13/2004 12:00:00 AM | Football
Sept. 13, 2004
During the annual Wolfpack Club Caravan last spring, head football coach Chuck Amato had `em rolling when he talked about the number of tickets NC State should provide incoming Ohio State fans this weekend. Given the fact that NC State was given a relatively paltry total of 5,000 tickets for a 103,000 seat stadium in Columbus last year, Amato joked that his school should be more generous by offering as many as 20,000 tickets to the Buckeye faithful. The only catch, Amato suggested, is that those 20,000 seats be located inside the adjacent RBC Center.
But hey, don't sell Ohio State fans short. Chances are, several thousand of them would likely show up if given the opportunity to watch the game on the big screen at the RBC. Ohio State football is, after all, a tradition-laden institution that has built up an enormous fan base over the years.
It's kind of like Kentucky basketball. I remember covering the Maui Classic basketball tournament several years back, an event in which the Wildcats were participating. The tournament venue - the Lahana Civic Center - is about the size of most high school gyms, meaning very little seating is available. But that didn't stop several hundred Kentucky fans from showing up on the island paradise, even though they knew there was no chance they would actually see the games in person.
In e-mails sent to this website over the summer, many Ohio State fans were dismayed by their inability to purchase tickets to this Saturday's rematch between the Buckeyes and Wolfpack. Their perception of NC State as a "basketball school" led them to believe that securing tickets to a Wolfpack football game would be a piece of cake.
Sorry folks: there's no room at the inn and there won't be for the foreseeable future.
Of course, there was a time in the not too distant past when one could actually drive up to Carter-Finley Stadium on game day and buy as many tickets as they needed. Sure, games against the likes of North Carolina and East Carolina were always guaranteed sell-outs, but beyond that, the thought of selling out entire seasons five months ahead of time was nothing more than a mere pipe dream at best.
But since Amato arrived in 2000, the level of enthusiasm for Wolfpack football has reached a fever pitch. Nowadays, all tickets are virtually spoken for even before applications for renewals go out in the spring. As a result, ticket revenues to the athletic department from football alone have nearly doubled in just the last five years.
Amato's charisma combined with the exciting style of football he has brought to his alma mater have certainly contributed to the upswing in fan support. But above all else, there's a distinct feeling by many that the former Wolfpack linebacker is on the verge of taking the program to places it has never been before. As a result, a fall Saturday at Carter-Finley Stadium is now more than a football game; it's an event.
And speaking of events, this Saturday's contest certainly stacks up as one of the most anticipated matchups in the history of the 37-year old stadium. First, the fact that Ohio State is playing here in Raleigh speaks for itself. No. 2, this one will be a rematch of last year's triple-overtime thriller in Columbus that became an ESPN Instant Classic. Thirdly, the Wolfpack Nation is ignited by the opportunity to potentially post a win over one of college football's legendary programs on home turf in front of a substantial television audience.
In just the last three years, NC State has recorded a Gator Bowl victory over Notre Dame and has knocked off powerful Florida State in back-to-back seasons. And in last fall's memorable rumble at massive Ohio Stadium, the Pack fell inches short of notching a road win for the history books.
Now NC State gets yet another shot at coach Jim Tressel's battle-hardened Buckeyes. There's no doubt that the Pack can compete with Ohio State, but competing and actually winning are two different things altogether. While a series of close defeats have kept NC State from receiving even more national notoriety over the last few years, Ohio State has mastered the art of winning by a whisker. The Buckeyes have won 13 of their last 14 games decided by a touchdown or less over the last two seasons, including Saturday's 24-21 victory over Marshall, a game that was decided by Mike Nugent's 55-yard field goal with two seconds left.
As for this week's meeting, all the trappings are in place for another memorable afternoon. And even though the two schools have faced off on the football field only once before, this game, in many respects, is being treated like a rivalry because of what happened 12 months ago.
No wonder there's no room at the inn.
