I turned on the TV earlier today and tuned briefly to the coverage of the Fiesta Bowl Parade. The sun was shining and the sky was blue. It was a perfect day for a parade in Phoenix, Arizona. The crowd looked, well, sparse. I attributed it to the fact that I tuned in at about noon, and maybe everyone had already had their fill of high school bands. I even thought to myself that I felt a little sorry for those kids marching near the end of the parade, that didn't have the big crowds whooping and yelling for them. So was it more crowded earlier, or did everyone stay away because there were so many warnings about how crowded it would be? Or, have we been duped! I received an email today from Will, who has gone to great lengths to let me know that, by his calculations, the Fiesta Bowl Committee must be exaggerating to the media. I 've never done the math like he has (I can barely double the ingredients in a recipe)....

"Several hundred thousand people will line the streets of Phoenix for the Fort McDowell Fiesta Bowl Parade. Fiesta Bowl Parade pictures were provided courtesy of the Fiesta Bowl Committee." That’s what it says on yours, and every other Media, website. It's a blatant LIE !

You are being lied to by The Fiesta Bowl Committee who is GROSSLY inflating it's attendance figures - and don't tell me you got yours from the City - They get theirs from - you guessed it - The Fiesta Bowl Committee

Do the math...The Parade route is 1.68 miles long from Central and Montecello to 7th St and Minnezona. 1.68 miles is 8870 ft - let's double that because there are two sides to the route and you get 17740 ft of kerb. Each Attendee requires about 2 feet of kerb space (measure yourself from shoulder to shoulder - it's about 2 feet) that means the front row from start to finish of the route can accommodate 8870 people if there are no gaps in the line. The Fiesta claims a projected attendance of 400,000 - you claim "several hundred thousand"

To accommodate 400,000 spectators, the crowd would be, on average, FORTY FIVE ROWS DEEP, (That’s 400000/8870 = 45.095) STANDING SHOULDER TO SHOULDER WITH NO GAPS, ALONG BOTH SIDES OF THE ENTIRE PARADE ROUTE. And just how do you expect anyone not in the first five rows to see anything without raised flooring or bleachers, 45 rows high, along the entire route? To meet their declared attendance figures you would,(if the space were there, which it is not) for example, have to take grandstand from PIR and extend it along both sides of the entire route, that would get you close to their attendance claims.

I am reviewing the live TV coverage of the parade which I TIVO'd - The bleachers are about half full, you can still see plenty of unoccupied bench space - The reported bleacher capacity is 13,000 so there are about 7000, at best, in the bleachers. The rest of the route, as they pan down Central Ave, is, at best, 4 deep, and it is not shoulder to shoulder, some people are in lawn chairs and in places there are gaps. That's four rows of no more than 8870 people plus the contents of the bleachers - that gives an attendance of around 35,000 - 40,000. Where are the other 360,000 people hiding?? I just don't see them!

Now look at the photos on your own website and tell me if the crowd looks anything like 45 rows deep. The Fiesta Bowl Committee are inflating their estimates by a factor of TEN!

Thanks, Will, for taking the time to write to me. We'll see what the Fiesta Bowl Committee says about the attendance in their media materials next year.