Filed under: TCU, Wisconsin, Bowl Games, Sports Business and Media
LOS ANGELES -- In a city obsessed with fame, there's a palpable buzz this week about an unlikely group of celebrities: University of Wisconsin fans.
One of L.A.'s landmark hotels is ditching tradition -- and energy conservation -- by lighting up its exterior to celebrate their arrival. At two of Hollywood's hottest clubs, promoters are throwing Wisconsin-themed parties, including a New Year's Eve bash at Coco de Ville -- a haunt of Kim Kardashian -- that's charging $100 for tickets. And Thursday afternoon, at the iconic Santa Monica Pier along the Pacific Ocean, planners are expecting 30,000 Wisconsin fans to show up for a massive pep rally.
"We have bulked up on our Miller beer and our cognac, and we're doing many more parties than we've done in the last few years," said David Horowitz, general manager of the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza, which has hosted Texas, Penn State and Ohio State fans for recent Rose Bowls. The 726-room hotel is sold out from Thursday night through the weekend, and its exterior will be lit up red - the Badgers' hallmark color - in honor of the guests. "They're filling up the whole town," Horowitz told FanHouse. "Thank you, Wisconsin."
Those sentiments speak to the unlikely and growing love affair between greater Los Angeles and the Badger State's flagship university. Wisconsin's fifth-ranked football team will take on No. 3 Texas Christian in Saturday's Rose Bowl. As Wisconsin has grown into one of the titans of collegiate sports, its profile has grown dramatically in -- of all places -- sunny Southern California, where the Badgers' athletic renaissance began in 1994, when Wisconsin beat UCLA for its first Rose Bowl victory in school history.
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