Wednesday, July 22, 1998

Ticket sales slow for Cowboys' third Sun Bowl scrimmage

EL PASO, Texas (AP) - Slow ticket sales for the Dallas Cowboys' scrimmage, which sold out the Sun Bowl in its inaugural year, have raised the possibility that this year's game might not reach the break-even point.

Unless another 10,000 tickets are sold in the next two weeks, event guarantors could be left picking up part of the tab for the Aug. 6 game.

"This would be the first year we would have to draw on that letter of credit," said Wes Jurey, president of the Greater El Paso Chamber of Commerce.

Jurey said he is still optimistic the game will continue to pay for itself, as it did in the summers of 1996, when a sellout crowd of 51,118 was in attendance, and 1997, when more than 40,000 were sold.

He is hoping a trend of sales picking up in the final weeks will continue.

Only some 21,000 tickets have been sold. Organizers said they must sell more than 30,000 to reach the break-even point of about $700,000.

But even reaching that point, would mean little or nothing for the game's charity, the United Way. The 1996 game delivered a profit of $205,500, which was matched dollar for dollar by a local charitable foundation.

The 1997 event raised $71,500, an amount also matched by the Border Fund.

Scrimmage committee members believed that this year's Dallas opponent, the Oakland Raiders, might mean another sellout. That goal seems unlikely, however.

"I'm worried as a guarantor, but I'm even more worried as chairperson of the United Way," said Martini DeGroat, Southwestern Bell general manager. "You would think the third year would be easier. But it seems to be tougher."

Event chairman Larry Peterson said there are bigger worries than the guarantors having to pay up, because they knew the risks involved.

"More of a concern would be if El Paso doesn't show they are supporting the growth of this relationship with the Cowboys," said Peterson.

El Paso leaders have been pushing to bring an exhibition game to the Sun Bowl and are also trying to convince the Cowboys to relocate their training camp here.

"That's the thing everyone is worried about," Peterson said.