Wyoming's Motto: Embrace Tradition

[MrTitleist]

From Wyoming Athletics


The 2007 college football season will kick off for the Wyoming Cowboys on Saturday, Sept. 1 when UW hosts the Virginia Cavaliers in a noon start time. The focus of the UW Athletics Department for the 2007-08 athletic seasons is a return to tradition, including traditional school colors and a focus on traditions of the past. The theme for this year's athletic seasons is "Embrace the Tradition".

The Cowboys will wear the traditional school colors of brown and gold. The return to a brighter gold color worn throughout UW's history will be featured on Wyoming team uniforms. The new color, called "Gameday Gold", will replace the "Prairie Gold" of recent years. UW's mascot, Cowboy Joe the Pony, will be made more visible, leading the team on the field and appearing on the field after each Wyoming score this season. For the season opener versus Virginia, 10,000 Gameday Gold T-shirts will be handed out to the first 10,000 fans entering the gates at War Memorial Stadium.

"It's exciting to see our fans embrace the return to the traditional colors," said UW Athletics Director Tom Burman. "We are excited to incorporate those traditions that have meant so much to our alumni and fans throughout the history of our program. We want fans to not only embrace our past, but jump on board for the future."

Ticket sales for the season opener are going well, and fans are encouraged to purchase tickets early. Thus far, nearly 6,600 season tickets have been sold, which has easily surpassed the season-ticket total for all of last year. Next Saturday's opener has been tabbed "Sellout Saturday" as the UW Athletics Department is looking to set a new opening game attendance record. The current capacity of War Memorial Stadium is 30,514, and the largest home opening crowd in school history was 29,134 against Air Force on Sept. 14, 1985.

"We have had a great pre-sale of tickets for `Sellout Saturday'," said Kevin McKinney, Senior Associate Athletics Director for External Affairs. "Because ticket sales have gone extremely well, we encourage fans to not wait until the last minute to buy their tickets. There are still good seats available, but we hope fans will either go online or call the ticket office and help us try to set a new season-opening record."

In addition to the return to tradition and the push for an opening day sellout, the UW Athletics Department is highlighting its Cowboys for Kids Ticket Program. The Cowboys for Kids program is entering its fourth year at UW. The way the program works is individual or corporate fans who purchase season tickets but don't use those tickets for a particular game can donate those tickets back to the UW Athletics Department. The Athletics Department then in turn passes those tickets on to various community groups around the state of Wyoming such as: Big Brothers Big Sisters, Boys and Girls Clubs of Wyoming, Cathedral Home for Children and the Youth Crisis Center, just to name a few.

For every one ticket donated by a Cowboy fan, the UW Athletics Department matches that donation.

"The Cowboys for Kids program last year provided an opportunity for over 200 children per game from across the state to see Cowboy Football games," said McKinney. "For the most part, these are young people who might not have had the opportunity to see a Cowboy game otherwise. It's a terrific program because we're making new Cowboy fans at the same time that our fans are giving back to the community."

Fans who have questions regarding ticketing or the Cowboys for Kids program can contact the University of Wyoming Athletics Ticket office at 1-800-922-9461, 1-307-766-4850.