The teams have not been selected and the game is about six weeks away, but the Las Vegas Bowl is running out of tickets.

Less than 4,000 tickets remain for local purchase. Each participating team receives 12,000 tickets for the Dec. 21 game at Sam Boyd Stadium, which seats about 40,000.

Bowl executive director Tina Kunzer-Murphy said Monday that last year's first-ever sellout has sparked an early run on tickets. An announced crowd of 40,053 attended Cal's 35-28 victory over Brigham Young. It easily beat the previous high of 27,784, set in 2004 for the UCLA-Wyoming matchup.

"I hope we've turned the corner," Kunzer-Murphy said of the bowl, which is in its 15th year. "What a difference a year makes? The fact it was a very good football game and the fact it was a sellout is tremendous. It's all been very, very positive.

"(I've been) talking to bowl people around the country, and they talk about how a game might affect perceptions. Perceptions mean so much. It's a community-based event. We were very fortunate that BYU and Cal allowed us to take the next step. It's definitely made an impact on where we're going."

It also doesn't hurt that No. 25 BYU (7-2, 5-0 Mountain West Conference) could be on the verge of clinching the MWC championship and landing back in Las Vegas. The Cougars can secure at least a share of the title Thursday with a victory over Wyoming.

This is the first year the bowl will have the first selection from the Mountain West, and Kunzer-Murphy said taking the champion is important to her, but she can't speak for all the committee members that they would automatically choose the winner.

Nevertheless, if the Cougars clinch, it would be hard for committee members to forget about the roughly 30,000 BYU fans who helped fill the stadium last season.

"There's no secret what BYU means to Las Vegas," Kunzer-Murphy said.

In addition to now receiving the first choice from the MWC, the bowl increased its payout from $575,000 to $1 million.

Also, it moved up from the fifth- to fourth-place team in the Pacific-10 Conference, though it essentially shares both spots with the Emerald Bowl because they switch positions every other year. Both bowls also can negotiate to take the teams.

The likely Pac-10 candidates are No. 21 Oregon (7-2, 4-2 Pac-10), Oregon State (6-3, 4-2) and Washington State (6-4, 4-3).

Kunzer-Murphy said the committee will meet Nov. 15 to discuss matchups, and no Las Vegas Bowl representatives will attend games this week.

So that leaves time to sell more tickets.

"I don't know if we'll sell out before we announce the teams, but we're on a record pace," Kunzer-Murphy said.