Big East Wants Better Bowls (Two Articles)

[Jim Johnson]

Big East mulling improved bowl destinations

By KEITH SARGEANT

STAFF WRITER

Imagine a bowl game in New Jersey, played just a few hours before the ball drops across the river in Times Square.

Or imagine a holiday week in St. Petersburg, Fla., a vacation centered around a bowl game pitting your favorite Big East Conference team against a Southeastern Conference foe.

Those are among several scenarios being discussed by Big East Commissioner Michael Tranghese and his braintrust as they try to improve the conference's current bowl lineup.

"We're looking at a creation of new bowls in places that might be attractive to us," Tranghese said. "We're also talking to our current partners about upgrading what we currently have. And I think we've had some very low-level conversations with bowls who have said that when the next wave of contracts come out, they're going to be interested in us."

So if you're a Rutgers fan who isn't looking forward to spending the first week of January in Toronto, know this: Tranghese and Co. are doing their best to please you. In fact, just because the Scarlet Knights are likely headed to the International Bowl on Jan. 5, it doesn't mean your future vacation plans won't be a tad more appealing.

"We're trying to identify bowls where our fans and teams want to go," said Tranghese, adding that upgrading of his conference's bowl alignment "is a big priority" for the Big East.

Still, Tranghese makes no apologies for the critics bemoaning the Big East's current postseason tie-ins, pointing to where the league was in the aftermath of the Atlantic Coast Conference raid.

"I know where we are today versus where we were four years ago, it's like night and day," Tranghese said, noting that West Virginia will play for the national championship with a win over Pitt this Saturday. "When we negotiated these contracts, this league (with its current eight teams) had not even played a football game. So we had no leverage. To be quite blunt, we were lucky to get what we got."

What the Big East got was a four-year deal that maintained its ties with the Bowl Championship Series, and that was no small feat considering there were those who called for the weakened Big East not to be one of the six power conferences affiliated with the major bowl and national championship format.

But what Tranghese had to settle for was a bowl configuration that's been widely-panned in media circles and by fans alike.

Consider:

# The Big East's marquee game, the Gator Bowl, has a loophole that allows it to pass over the conference's top non-BCS-bound team in favor of a Big 12 team twice over the four-year period.

# Worse, if Notre Dame is bowl-eligible and doesn't get picked for a BCS game in the next two years, Gator officials can (and probably would) favor the Irish over a Big East team. If that happens, even the Sun Bowl won't be an option, since the El Paso-based game would take a Big 12 team.

# While the Meineke currently gets the third choice, that second-tier bowl wasn't an option last year when Charlotte officials entered a one-year pact to pit Navy against an ACC foe. Because of this, a 10-2 Rutgers squad was sent to the inaugural Texas Bowl in Houston  not exactly a prime destination for fans wanting to drive to see their team play.

"Rutgers was a play away from going to the Orange Bowl," Tranghese said, "but they ended up going to Texas. I think the Rutgers people will tell you they had a good experience, but they were disappointed because they could've gone to a BCS game. But that's just the world we live in."

# The Big East's other games, the Papa John's Bowl in Birmingham, Ala., and the International Bowl in Toronto, aren't exactly destinations in which travel agents are pitching around the holidays, either.

"Our priority is the (matchups) we play," Tranghese said. "Currently we do not play the Big 10 and we do not play the SEC, so I would like to play both of those conferences. If I took an SEC or a Big 10 team and put them against a Big East team, I don't care where we play, the game would have tremendous meaning."

That's where games in plush spots such as New York City or Florida come into play, according to Nick Carparelli, the Big East's associate commissioner, who acknowledged the possibility of bowl at the Meadowlands has been discussed.

"We've talked about it," Carparelli said. "We actually went down the path with the Jets, and had planned for the Big Apple Bowl pending the construction of their domed stadium. Once that fell through, and now that they're building a stadium at the Meadowlands that isn't going to be domed, certainly that project has lost a little bit of steam. I wouldn't rule it out, but I think without a dome in the Northeast, it would make it a little more difficult."

The prospects of playing a bowl game in St. Petersburg appear more feasible, Carparelli said.

"We've had meetings with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and all the local sports commissions in the area about this and we've received very positive feedback about the concept of a bowl game in St. Petersburg," Carparelli said. "It's not very far along."

More likely, the Big East will look to broker a deal with an existing bowl that currently has ties to another conference.

"I think bowl organizations like to see conferences with depth, and we've proven that we've had that," Carparelli said. "We've received interest from bowls already about the next phase of contracts and we feel good about the fact that we're going to be able to explore some other opportunities."

For now, Tranghese has a message to anyone bemoaning their team's upcoming bowl destination.

"It beats the alternative of not going to a bowl game," the Big East commissioner said. "I know that."

Link

[Guest]

Tranghese wants better bowls

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

BY TOM LUICCI

Star-Ledger Staff

Big East commissioner Michael Tranghese not only understands the grumbling about the league's current bowl lineup, he is determined to do something about upgrading it, he said yesterday.

"It's a big priority for us," he said, indicating that future bowl matchups with SEC and Big Ten opponents are high on his to-do list.

League champion West Virginia is headed to a BCS game -- possibly the national championship game if it beats Pittsburgh on Saturday -- but the Big East's other four bowl-eligible teams are mostly slotted into secondary games despite credentials that should earn them better bowl destinations.

South Florida (9-3) appears headed to the Sun Bowl, with league runner-up Connecticut (9-3) likely going to the Meineke Bowl and Cincinnati, also 9-3, appearing to be relegated to the Papajohns.com Bowl. That would leave the International Bowl on Jan. 5 in Toronto for Rutgers, which can finish 8-4 if it wins at Louisville on Thursday.

"We're sitting here with three 9-3 teams (beyond 10-1 West Virginia) and the hard part is one of them is going to slide below the Sun Bowl and Charlotte (site of the Meineke Bowl)," Tranghese said. "But it beats the alternative of not going to a bowl game. I know that."

Tranghese said the league's oft-criticized bowl lineup is the byproduct of having "no leverage" when the deals were negotiated three years ago, since Boston College, Miami and Virginia Tech had just bolted to the ACC. At the time, he was also battling to keep the Big East champ in the BCS mix -- when there was a strong sentiment not to do so with the reconfigured league.

"To be quite candid and blunt, we were lucky to get what we got," he said. "That being said, the fact that West Virginia two years ago wins the Sugar Bowl and Louisville last year wins the Orange Bowl (and) the fact that our television ratings have gone through the roof in these ESPN primetime games, all of this has enhanced our abilities the next time around.

"I think there's a lot more interest than there was four years ago, and I think that our bowl lineup the next time around will be better than what it is now."

The Big East is even looking into the idea of creating new bowls -- one in St. Petersburg, Fla., and another, perhaps, in the new stadium being built in the Meadowlands for the Giants and Jets -- although the latter is considered a long shot at best.

"If I said they were the only two being discussed, I'd probably be misleading you," he said. "We're talking about a lot of things. We're looking at a creation of new bowls in places that might be attractive to us. We're also talking about current partners as a way of upgrading what we currently have.

"We're trying to identify bowls where we can go to places where our fans and teams want to go, but our other priority is the teams we play. Currently, we do not play the Big Ten and we do not play the SEC, so I would like to play both of those conferences."

Link

[BullsWinBucsWin]

Wonder what impact the proposed tearing down of Tropicana Field has on the prospects of a bowl happening down here.  If they build the stadium they're talking about building on the waterfront, would it have enough room for a football game, both as far as the playing surface, and the seating capacity? 

[80mins]

I'd love to see a Big East/SEC somewhere (St. Pete is nice in theory, if such a stadium [not the Trop] existed) and a Big East/Big Ten perhaps in Lucas Oil in Indy.

[D1DDY]

Wonder what impact the proposed tearing down of Tropicana Field has on the prospects of a bowl happening down here.  If they build the stadium they're talking about building on the waterfront, would it have enough room for a football game, both as far as the playing surface, and the seating capacity? 

man if that happened it would tought to find a parking space  ;D

[MikeG]

even when the Rays leave tropicana--- I can't believe that building doesn't have some alternative use possibilities--- shopping centers---- BOAT SALES

something that could be there quite often---

rodeos

concerts

lots of things we used to do before the baseball team finally was put in there

[BullsWinBucsWin]

even when the Rays leave tropicana--- I can't believe that building doesn't have some alternative use possibilities--- shopping centers---- BOAT SALES

something that could be there quite often---

rodeos

concerts

lots of things we used to do before the baseball team finally was put in there

Everything I have read points to them tearing the Trop down and turning it into mixed residential and commercial property to help fund the new stadium.

[Jamie]

Could Ray Jay handle another football game in late December? There's something so awkward about seeing a football game played in a baseball stadium. To me it just screams "fringe bowl".

[crambone]

BETTER BOWLS PLZ.

NO NOTRE DAME PLZ.

thx.

[SANJAY]

My big problem with the bowl tie-ins are who the opponents are as much as the locations.  So here's an idea, without having to create more bowl games or figure out another BCS conference to steal a tie-in from:

1. Stick with the Bowls we have

2. Get rid of the loopholes for Gator and Texas, so they are straight Big East bowls.

3. Change the International to Big East v. Big 10 (Big East # 6 v. Big 10 #8/9)

4. Change Birmingham to Big East v. SEC (Big East #5 v. SEC #8)

5.  Both Big 10 and SEC will have enough bowl eligible teams most years (especially considering 6-6 teams are allowed if they have an existing tie-in)

The bowl lineup would then be:

1. BCS

2. Gator (ACC opponent)

3. Meineke (ACC opponent)

4. Texas (Big 12 opponent)

5. Birmingham (SEC opponent)

6. International (Big 10 opponent)