Vegas's Home Teams

At least they’re selling some tickets.

To the wrong team.

UNLV’s disastrous football program doesn’t draw many fans. The announced attendance was 26,315, in the Utes’ 35-15 Saturday win over the Rebels. That was probably an exaggeration. Either way, it was hard to tell which had the most fans, since both teams wear red. Utah’s following sounded as loud as UNLV’s.

Asked what percentage of the fans were Ute followers, one young man coming out of the games said 60 percent of them appeared to favor the Utes.

Small wonder.

Whenever BYU plays in Vegas, it seems at least half the crowd is wearing blue
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Fact is, BYU has a large following in Las Vegas, Utah has a decent one. If Boise State won the BCS bowl bid, the Las Vegas Bowl would likely get to pick whichever Mountain West team it wants. Would it take TCU, if it won the conference title? That team doesn’t travel well. Does it go back to BYU…again? Rumor has it the LV Bowl loves the BYU crowd but doesn’t want to turn it into the BYU Bowl. Utah? Maybe. It has only been to two Las Vegas Bowls.

But would it take the Utes if they weren’t conference champs?

Lots of scenarios.

Still, that’s why the Vegas Bowl loves the Mountain West. It has at least two teams guaranteed to put quite a few fans in the stadium.

Just not UNLV fans.

There aren’t any.