Hog fans begin making plans to head to Las Vegas

LITTLE ROCK (AP) _ With the announcement that the Hogs are headed to the Las Vegas Bowl, Razorback fans have started making plans to follow them. <br><br>``There's not a lot of space left on the discount

Wednesday, December 6th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

LITTLE ROCK (AP) _ With the announcement that the Hogs are headed to the Las Vegas Bowl, Razorback fans have started making plans to follow them.

``There's not a lot of space left on the discount fares,'' said Wanda McConnell at Arkansas Custom Travel in Little Rock on Tuesday.

Officials said Sunday that the Razorbacks would face Nevada-Las Vegas Dec. 21. And by Monday, the calls were coming into travel agencies across the state.

``The phone has been ringing,'' McConnell said. ``We had quite a few (calls) yesterday and some this morning.''

Kevin Trainor, sports information director for the University of Arkansas, said Tuesday afternoon that 1,800 tickets have been sold so far.

He said he expects Las Vegas to be ringing with Razorback fans calling the hogs.

``There is a lot of interest in this game,'' Trainor said. ``A lot of people wanted to go to Las Vegas and this is a good chance to do it.''

As of Tuesday, the least expensive air fares were about $400, including taxes. Most hotel rooms are going for about $69 and up, McConnell said.

And the plan for most Razorback fans seems to be to fly into Las Vegas a couple of days before the game and leave shortly after.

``A couple of people I talked to this morning wanted to come home at 1 a.m. and be home Friday morning,'' McConnell said.

Sykes Harvey, assistant director of the Alumni Association, said hundreds of people have already called about the association's package deals. He said several packages are being offered including tickets to the game, hotel reservations and airfare.

``We've had a really strong response,'' he said. He said it was still to early to speculate how many packages would be sold.

Jackie Dennis, spokeswoman for the Golden Nugget hotel where the football team is staying, said Tuesday that rooms were still available, but they were going quickly.

Nancy Hicks of Kruger International Travel and Tours in Little Rock said she has had about a dozen calls about trips to see the game.

Las Vegas is a good destination because there are so many hotels there, she said.

Hicks said the lowest fares are already taken and after this week the price will increase even more.

Cindy Martin of Marty's Travel Inc. in Fayetteville said that the lowest fares near the campus _ $205 out of Tulsa, Okla., on Southwest Airlines _ were gone Sunday.

She said the company took about 25 calls Monday and said it was still getting calls on Tuesday.

She said the cheapest fares they could come up with from Fayetteville were about $400.

University of Arkansas freshman Brittni Aldridge of White Hall said that lots of students were excited about the team heading to a bowl game, but that finals don't end until Dec. 20 and, ``Everyone's just trying get though with finals.''