Crowded at the top (of the stadium)

Biggest game ever for the Utes?

It’s a good argument, especially considering Saturday’s TCU-Utah game pairs the Nos. 3 and 5 teams in the BCS standings. The stadium is sold out. The game will be featured on ESPN’s “Game Day.”

Another indicator is media requests. The press box is “sold out” too.

Associate A.D. Liz Abel says this game likely has the most national media requests of any home game in Utah history. Yahoo! Sports, CBS.com, Foxsports.com, USA Today, The Sporting News, two Sports Illustrated writers, the New York Times, New York Daily News and ESPN.com are among the heavy-hitters that will be in attendance.

Actually, the press box has been equally crowded in other games — those against BYU.
Abel says that’s because the BYU game always brings in media from all over the state that don’t attend other games — papers and radio stations from small towns. You might find media from Heber City, St. George, Wendover, Tremonton and Price.

Hence, the press box is sometimes as full as it will be on Saturday.

It’s just a different crowd.

As a point of reference, the press box has also been packed on one other notable occasion: The opening ceremonies of the 2002 Olympics. But that wasn’t media that filled it. Most of the media were sitting outside in the stands. The actual press box was reserved for Olympic officials.