By BOB PETRIE
The Arizona Republic

TEMPE, Ariz. - At age 45, Sun Devil Stadium is a sports dinosaur, known more for its cramped restrooms and crowded corridors than cushy comfort.

Tom Sadler, though, has no choice. It's the stadium he's charged with whipping into shape for its fifth and final national college championship, the Fiesta Bowl on Jan. 3, which pits Ohio State University against the University of Miami.

"This stadium has worked for four national championships, and it'll work for a fifth," says Sadler, an assistant athletic director at Arizona State University who has worked 20 Fiesta Bowls, including the four previous national championship games.

Much of the work will be crammed into the two weeks following Saturday's Arizona Cardinals home finale against the San Francisco 49ers.

Tickets are officially sold out, although scalpers are advertising them at some of the highest prices in years. New this year: beer sales for the first time during a college game at Sun Devil.

Extreme housekeeping will be done on the stadium, along with a lockdown for a tight security sweep, before the teams arrive. For the estimated 600 media, seating is being added, mainly atop the existing press box, with the cost absorbed by the Fiesta Bowl. Platforms for national telecasts from ABC and ESPN will be built in the north end zone, at the networks' expense.

Up to 50 portable toilets will be shoehorned around the stadium to address the biggest complaint, lengthy restroom lines that spill into the walkways.

"It gets gridlocked when it gets full," says Dave Hocevar, 53, of Phoenix, president of the Phoenix-area's Ohio State alumni club, who plans to attend the game. He still remembers missing part of the third quarter of last year's bowl because of a bathroom break that began at halftime.

With an expected full house of 73,471, Sadler says there will be waits for concessions and restrooms, "no matter how old the stadium is."

"That's not to say a new stadium wouldn't provide for better amenities, but we're going to rise to the occasion and make it work here," he said.

ASU spent $600,000 to upgrade the stadium's electrical system before the 2001 season, to provide instant backup power. .

The fixes to Sun Devil Stadium are similar to what Rose Bowl officials did last year to ready that 80-year-old stadium for the national championship between Miami and Nebraska. .

At ASU, the entrance turnstiles will be pushed out toward the street, creating a plaza inside the gates for people to buy food, drink and souvenirs.

About 1,000 staffers will work the game, plus 400 officers from the ASU police and Department of Public Safety for security. Sadler said officials took close note of the postgame violence in Columbus, Ohio, following the Buckeyes' win over Michigan on Nov. 23 that put them into the Fiesta Bowl.

"We would not want this game marred by that, so we're going to do whatever we can," he said. "It's an event of national prominence, and we need to treat it like that from a security perspective."

Fan searches, which include checking bags and purses, won't take much longer than normal stadium events. Backpacks, coolers, umbrellas and video cameras are banned.

The next Fiesta Bowl to determine the national championship won't be until at least 2007 and will be played in the new Cardinals stadium in Glendale, Ariz.