Bowls lining up to take the fifth

[Apis Bull]

Bowls lining up to take the fifth

At least eight eager to join top four games in BCS title rotation

Wednesday, April 21, 2004

By Ted Lewis

Staff Writer

The BCS train doesn't stop very often.

So it's small wonder that the platform to get on board is crowded.

At least eight of the 23 non-BCS bowls have declared interest in becoming the fifth member of college football's championship rotation starting in 2006.

"This process started in 1992, and they may be signing a 10-year contact that will take us out to 2017," Capitol One Bowl executive director Tom Mickle said Tuesday during the Football Association Convention in New Orleans. "That's 25 years and perhaps only one moment in time for us to have an entry point.

"It's something you've got to take very seriously."

The BCS announced in February that it would expand from four games to five as part of a settlement with the non-BCS conferences in allowing those schools greater access to the top tier of games.

But little has been clarified since then, including whether the fifth game will be full partner with the Sugar, Rose, Orange and Fiesta bowls as was indicated at the time of the announcement.

But that hardly seems to matter.

Along with the Capitol One Bowl, the Cotton Bowl, Gator Bowl, Houston Bowl, Outback Bowl, Holiday Bowl, Peach Bowl and Alamo Bowl have responded to Big East commissioner and BCS coordinator Mike Tranghese's invitation to submit a general plan for how they would stage the championship game and in the years in which it would not be.

Commissioners from the six BCS conferences will begin the paring process at their annual meeting next week in Phoenix.

The large number of applicants isn't surprising to Nokia Sugar Bowl executive director Paul Hoolahan.

"They want to be like us," Hoolahan said. "They want to be where we are.

"They're going to bring all of their resources to bear to move up, and I don't blame them one bit."

Early indications are that the Houston and Gator bowls are the front-runners for the spot.

Both happen to be played in the cities and stadiums of this year's and next year's Super Bowls, giving them the cachet and experience of playing host to mega-events.

They also benefit from being the least disruptive to the rest of the bowl system. The other six games have ties either to the SEC, Big 12, Big Ten or Pac 10, and those leagues and bowls are leery of giving up comfortable arrangements.

"I don't know if you want to be the front-runner right now," said Gator Bowl president Rick Catlett, whose game matches the No. 2 teams from the Big East and ACC. "There was a guy who was the front-runner for president until he started whooping and hollering one night, and he lost out.

"Still we think we have a great city, a great stadium and can definitely host the championship game."

Catlett points to $49 million in improvements to Alltel Stadium, mostly to 11,000 premium seats plus $13 million more for a pavilion behind the stadium that can accommodate up to 20,000 people for a pre-game party.

He also said it's up to the BCS commissioners to decide if the fifth bowl should be anchored to one of the conferences as the others are and expressed enthusiasm for the idea of having a non-BCS team in his game.

"The years that Tulane and those guys get in, they're going to be the Cinderella that everybody wants to see," Catlett said. "The year that Tommy Bowden's bunch went undefeated (1998), I'd have loved to have seen them play in a better bowl game.

"It's definitely no problem for us."

The Houston Bowl is only four years old and currently matches the No. 8 teams from the SEC and Big 12.

But the bowl recently went into partnership with SMG, which manages Reliant Stadium and which last year was instrumental in landing the 2011 Final Four for Houston.

"We've really solidified ourselves in the sporting world by proving we can host large events with a great deal of success," Houston Bowl vice-president Jerry Ippoliti said. "We have the marquee stadium in the world right now, and we have the backing of SMG.

"We've gone from being a minimum payout bowl to $2.2 million, and now we're ready to make the big leap in a hurry."

Unlike Catlett, Ippoliti said he felt it was important his bowl be given an anchor conference, presumably the Big 12, but added that it wasn't a deal-breaker.

The other bowls aren't conceding anything, yet, though.

The Cotton Bowl is basing its hopes on a new stadium for the Dallas Cowboys, either at the site of the current Cotton Bowl or in downtown Dallas, plus its historical position as one of the major bowls before it missed the first cut for the BCS.

The Peach Bowl is touting its strong corporate base in Atlanta. Peach Bowl president Gary Stokan even said his game has the resources to have a non-New Year's game in addition to a BCS game.

The Alamo Bowl's selling points are San Antonio's increasing reputation as a destination city and strong local support for the current game plus events such as the Final Four.

The Capital One Bowl can point out Orlando as a popular tourist attraction and that at $5.2 million per team, it already is paying out the most of any non-BCS bowl.

The Holiday and Outback Bowls are considered longer shots at landing the game, but as Holiday Bowl executive director Bruce Binowski said, "We're doing our due diligence in pursuing this, because anytime you can move up in the pecking order, you've got to at least look at the opportunity."

That's Catlett's view, as well.

"The BCS brand is unbelievable," he said. "It took Coca-Cola 100 years what the BCS achieved in six.

"We're fortunate to have a New Year's Day game now, but there's nothing like the BCS brand. To the average college football fan, the BCS brand means everything."

. . . . . . .

Ted Lewis can be reached at tlewis@timespicayune.com or (504) 826-3405.

Personally, I would prefer the Gator to the Houston.

[Guest SecretSquirel]

Jack Bogaczyk

April 20 2004

Big East loses fifth bowl spot

Jack Bogaczyk

Daily Mail Sports Editor

IT was a year ago this week when those expansion tremors from the Atlantic Coast Conference began to really measure on the Richter scale of the Big East.

Suffice it to say that things are not so seismic in the Big East these days, unless you include some of the spring practice rants by West Virginia football Coach Rich Rodriguez.

While wintertime off-field problems in football at Miami and Virginia Tech are now ACC hand-wringers, the Big East quietly tries to move ahead toward a literal rebuilding season.

Besides rushing and passing through 2004 with lame ducks Boston College and Temple -- bound for the ACC and what, Division I-AA, respectively? -- the Big East also is facing a season with one fewer bowl tie-in than a year ago.

Another casualty, following the loss of the Hurricanes and Hokies and TV contract stability, is the Big East's fifth bowl berth. The San Francisco Bowl, where Tech and BC downed Mountain West Conference teams the last two Decembers, has opted for a selection from the neighborhood.

The game, renamed the Emerald Bowl, had the right to cancel its agreement for a Big East team if the league's membership changed. The Emerald is turning to a more logical geographic partner, taking the Pacific 10's sixth selection to meet Mountain West No. 3.

As the NCAA Bowl Certification Committee meets this week, the Big East appears left to hope the glut of 28 bowls will be even more super-sized, opening at least another two berths.

Otherwise, the Big East will play 2004 with only four bowl slots -- in the Bowl Championship Series, Gator, Insight and Continental Tire.

Then again, with only seven teams in the conference in the coming football season, the Big East may not be able to fill five spots anyway.

However, if the Big East wants to take a needed step toward proving it still belongs among the BCS six conferences, it must regain a fifth bowl opportunity with the addition of Cincinnati, Louisville and South Florida for the 2005 season.

WVU officials have found interest in the potential for a new bowl ESPN has lobbied for in Charleston, S.C., although Johnson Hagood Stadium -- home of The Citadel -- needs a 13,000-seat expansion to reach a bowl-minimum capacity of 35,000.

However, the organizers of that bowl have mostly talked early of trying to land ties with the ACC and a reconstituted Conference USA that will include Marshall. Still, the Big East really needs another bowl rooted east of the Mississippi River.

There has been some talk that the Tangerine Bowl would like more of an eastern flavor than its Big XII tie offers. Another possibility is if the NCAA finally sanctions a bowl in its hometown of Indianapolis, at the RCA Dome.

That would be attractive to a Big East with nearby Louisville and Cincinnati aboard.

The Big East also would sell West Virginia's postseason traveling horde to Indy, about a 300-mile jaunt from Charleston.

The BCS is seeking to add a fifth bowl. Deeper in the postseason pecking order, it's paramount the Big East do the same thing, at least by 2005.

http://dailymail.com/news/Jack+Bogaczyk-20040420

[bulls96go]

the BE needs to focus on making sure the 5th bcs bowl has a be tie in in the none championship years

that is what will cement our position in the bcs

[Apis Bull]

Jack Bogaczyk

April 20 2004

Big East loses fifth bowl spot

Jack Bogaczyk

Daily Mail Sports Editor  

IT was a year ago this week when those expansion tremors from the Atlantic Coast Conference began to really measure on the Richter scale of the Big East.

Suffice it to say that things are not so seismic in the Big East these days, unless you include some of the spring practice rants by West Virginia football Coach Rich Rodriguez.

While wintertime off-field problems in football at Miami and Virginia Tech are now ACC hand-wringers, the Big East quietly tries to move ahead toward a literal rebuilding season.

Besides rushing and passing through 2004 with lame ducks Boston College and Temple -- bound for the ACC and what, Division I-AA, respectively? -- the Big East also is facing a season with one fewer bowl tie-in than a year ago.

Another casualty, following the loss of the Hurricanes and Hokies and TV contract stability, is the Big East's fifth bowl berth. The San Francisco Bowl, where Tech and BC downed Mountain West Conference teams the last two Decembers, has opted for a selection from the neighborhood.

The game, renamed the Emerald Bowl, had the right to cancel its agreement for a Big East team if the league's membership changed. The Emerald is turning to a more logical geographic partner, taking the Pacific 10's sixth selection to meet Mountain West No. 3.

As the NCAA Bowl Certification Committee meets this week, the Big East appears left to hope the glut of 28 bowls will be even more super-sized, opening at least another two berths.

Otherwise, the Big East will play 2004 with only four bowl slots -- in the Bowl Championship Series, Gator, Insight and Continental Tire.

Then again, with only seven teams in the conference in the coming football season, the Big East may not be able to fill five spots anyway.  

However, if the Big East wants to take a needed step toward proving it still belongs among the BCS six conferences, it must regain a fifth bowl opportunity with the addition of Cincinnati, Louisville and South Florida for the 2005 season.

WVU officials have found interest in the potential for a new bowl ESPN has lobbied for in Charleston, S.C., although Johnson Hagood Stadium -- home of The Citadel -- needs a 13,000-seat expansion to reach a bowl-minimum capacity of 35,000.

However, the organizers of that bowl have mostly talked early of trying to land ties with the ACC and a reconstituted Conference USA that will include Marshall. Still, the Big East really needs another bowl rooted east of the Mississippi River.

There has been some talk that the Tangerine Bowl would like more of an eastern flavor than its Big XII tie offers. Another possibility is if the NCAA finally sanctions a bowl in its hometown of Indianapolis, at the RCA Dome.  

That would be attractive to a Big East with nearby Louisville and Cincinnati aboard.

The Big East also would sell West Virginia's postseason traveling horde to Indy, about a 300-mile jaunt from Charleston.

The BCS is seeking to add a fifth bowl. Deeper in the postseason pecking order, it's paramount the Big East do the same thing, at least by 2005.

http://dailymail.com/news/Jack+Bogaczyk-20040420

This was already posted

http://www.thebullspen.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?board=BigEast;action=display;num=1082493063

[USFMikeB]

This was already posted

http://www.thebullspen.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?board=BigEast;action=display;num=1082493063

Maybe, but there are a lot of people who don't read that board, such as myself.  However, that might change, since I've grown tired of attempting to converse with idiots on the Florida board!

[bulls96go]

i would think outback had the inside edge

[smazza]

outback seems quite content

[Papa_Bull]

BCS group ready to begin discussions of future changes

By Kelly Whiteside, USA TODAY

Just as most spring football games wrap up Saturday, officials from the Bowl Championship Series begin three days of meetings Monday in Phoenix to discuss changing the poll which determines the teams that play in the national championship game.

After the meetings, the group  the 11 Division I-A conference commissioners, an athletics director from each of the 11 conferences, TV partner ABC and all four BCS bowls  will pass on its recommendations to school presidents and chancellors for approval. Changes to the BCS poll will be announced at the start of the summer.

"I'd like to think that coming out of this meeting we'll be very close to where we want to be," BCS coordinator Mike Tranghese said Thursday. "We're hoping we can reconfigure the whole system so it simplified and more understandable, so that the computers will be there to help make a determination when there is conflict or confusion but of itself not make a decision."

The changes will be in place for next season's national title game, hosted by the Orange Bowl. Last season ended with controversy when the computes delivered a BCS title game that left out Southern California, the No. 1 team in the coaches' and media polls. LSU and USC were crowned co-champions.

"We broke the poll down in parts," said Tranghese, the Big East commissioner. "We've taken a long look at the human portion and candidly, even though the public will accept the human polls, we believe they're flawed because of their starting points. They start with one team ranked No. 1 and one team ranked No. 30 before a game is ever played."

BCS officials first approached the Associated Press, the administrator of the media poll, to see if AP would start its poll in the fourth or fifth game of the season; AP officials declined.

"We have taken the computer portion of it and have had it dissected in every imaginable way possible. I think our group has not heard the full presentation, but they will get it at this meeting," Tranghese said. "On the table we'll be re-weighting certain things. There is also going to be a discussion on how to weight games played on the road against games played at home.

"I don't know if there is any support for this. But there may be a discussion for (incorporating) margin of victory in a very, very limited way. Then I think it will be about what value we give the human polls vs. the computers."

"We will have a discussion about the team that doesn't win its conference championship not being eligible (for the title game). Though that sounds good on paper, we have shown examples where a team has not won its championship but clearly could be the No. 1 team in the country," Tranghese said. "There are people who have asked us to adopt a straight rule that if you're No. 1 in both (human) polls, that's it."

The bowls bidding to be the fifth BCS game beginning with the 2006 season will also be discussed. "The one thing we have agreed to is whoever this fifth bowl is, we will craft it so it is not viewed as a bowl below our current partners. It has got to be an equal partner," Tranghese said.

[bulls96go]

why would outback not want this.

[E.T.]

Outback is living very happy with the current deal of $EC and Big 10 plus 1