Cowboys Classic 2012: Michigan Sells Out 25,000-Ticket Allotment For Game Vs. Alabama

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Less than two weeks ago, Michigan started allowing people to buy tickets to the 2012 Cowboys Classic, the season-opening game against Alabama in Arlington, Texas. At the time, only people with a large number of "priority points" were able to purchase tickets, but that didn't slow down the sales one bit. By the end of last week the highest two price levels had been sold out, and now all 25,000 of the tickets in Michigan's allotment are gone.

"We have received unprecedented interest in tickets for the Cowboys Classic game with Alabama," said chief marketing officer Hunter Lochmann. "The demand is on par or greater than our athletic department has ever seen."

Michigan made tickets available to people on its season-ticket interest list and to people with one or more priority point on Monday. In around 24 hours, the final tickets were sold. The public was set to get a chance to buy tickets at the end of February, but that won't be happening now that all of the tickets are accounted for.

The sale of tickets for the Cowboys Classic shows just how much interest there is in the season-opening matchup between Michigan and Alabama. Michigan failed to sell out its 17,500-ticket allotment for the Sugar Bowl, which is a BCS game, but already the Cowboys Classic allotment is gone.

I suppose this shouldn't be a huge surprise. After all, in the eyes of many, a game played on Labor Day weekend to open the season against the defending national champions is more appealing than a bowl game on a Tuesday night against the ACC championship game's runner-up. Of course, it also helps that people have known about the trip to Texas since October 2010, whereas they only had a few weeks to plan for the trip to New Orleans.

In any case, demand to see the Michigan-Alabama game is already high, and I would imagine it will only increase as the 2012 season nears.

For more on the Michigan Wolverines, check out Maize n Brew. You can also head over to SB Nation's main NCAA Football hub at SBNation.com/NCAA-Football.