New Big East Bowl Lineup

[Jim Johnson]

Still in negotiations... so this is NOT FINAL:

1. BCS

2. Champs vs ACC

3. Sun

4. Meineke Car Care Bowl

5. That leaves two more spots for the bowl lineup, which currently includes the St. Petersburg, Papajohns.com and International bowls. The Big East is still talking to all three of those games, as well as the Independence and EagleBank bowls, the source said. The possibility of a new game in New York City still exists as well.

6. St Petersburg

http://myespn.go.com/blogs/bigeast/0-7-70/New-Big-East-bowl-lineup-coming-together.html

[BullsFanInTX]

Definite upgrade over current deal.  This is about as good as we could have hoped for.  The ONLY drawback I see is not having a Jan 1 game.  But since the BE was only going there once in 4 yrs anyway, that isn't that big of a deal.  To not share the bowls with other conf, and to add one more good bowl is a big upgrade. 

[USFDan]

At first glance it looks like an improvement.  I guess whether or not it is depends on who the opponents are.  I hope we get some good match ups with other BCS teams other than the ACC.  Seems we usually have to play the ACC team in a BCS bowl, in the Charlotte bowl, the Gator was a match up with the ACC as well, and the Champs bowl is probably an ACC team as well.  How can either conference get out of the basement in perception if they only play each other? Hopefully the Sun retains a match up with the Pac10 or maybe keeps a Big12 tie in.  Any chance to get a Big10 or SEC opponent in one of the bowls?  The last bowl in the line up, right now the St Pete Bowl, can have a nonBCS tie in, but I would really like to see the rest as having a mix of BCS conferences.

[BullsFanInTX]

More info:

There was an excellent question posted by one of the commenters, and so I double-checked: Yes, Notre Dame will also be included in the deal with the Sun Bowl. So the El Paso game will be able to select the Irish once every four years instead of a Big East team.

The Champs Sports Bowl has the same agreement, and that game would be sure to snatch up Notre Dame the first time the Irish become available. The Sun Bowl would only get Notre Dame if the Irish were eligible and the Champs Sports Bowl has already used up its one-time-in-four-years option.

• I'm also told that the payout from the Champs Sports Bowl is likely larger than what the Big East had been receiving as a payout from the Gator Bowl. Many of the bowl payouts seem to be increasing across the board in these negotiations.

• One drawback to the Champs Sports Bowl is the aging Citrus Bowl, where the game will be played. Planned renovations to the stadium have stalled because of the state of the economy. It won't be nearly as comfortable as Jacksonville Municipal Stadium at the Gator Bowl or even Bank of America Stadium for the Meineke Car Care Bowl.

Then again, if you're sitting in pleasant December weather in Orlando and it's a good game, would you really care that much?

http://myespn.go.com/blogs/bigeast

[BullsFanInTX]

At first glance it looks like an improvement.  I guess whether or not it is depends on who the opponents are.  I hope we get some good match ups with other BCS teams other than the ACC.  Seems we usually have to play the ACC team in a BCS bowl, in the Charlotte bowl, the Gator was a match up with the ACC as well, and the Champs bowl is probably an ACC team as well.  How can either conference get out of the basement in perception if they only play each other? Hopefully the Sun retains a match up with the Pac10 or maybe keeps a Big12 tie in.  Any chance to get a Big10 or SEC opponent in one of the bowls?  The last bowl in the line up, right now the St Pete Bowl, can have a nonBCS tie in, but I would really like to see the rest as having a mix of BCS conferences.

The papajohns bowl has a SEC tie in (if they have enough teams bowl eligible.)

[BULLfreak]

The deal with the Champs Sports bowl still includes Notre Dame, but the bowl could only take the Irish instead of a Big East team one out of every four years, the source said. The previous arrangement with the Gator and Sun bowls allowed those games to select Notre Dame instead of a Big East team twice in four years. Cutting that to one was a major priority for the league.

[Orlando Bull]

I have to say, I wouldn't mind the citrus bowl, It will be nice to watch WVU/Pitt/Cincy there if there is time before our BCS games in the future.

[Guest]

The deal with the Champs Sports bowl still includes Notre Dame, but the bowl could only take the Irish instead of a Big East team one out of every four years, the source said. The previous arrangement with the Gator and Sun bowls allowed those games to select Notre Dame instead of a Big East team twice in four years. Cutting that to one was a major priority for the league.

Well... it's not THAT big of a victory.

The Champs gets Notre Dame once and the Sun gets Notre Dame once after the Champs... so Notre Dame can still take A Big East slot twice in four years.

However, I am glad we have the tie-in, because without it - we might not get both the Champs and the Sun.

[BullsFanInTX]

It's still a better deal than before.  Let's compare

Old deal                                     Proposed deal

1) BCS                                         BCS

2) Gator/Sun (ND 2 of 4)               Champs (ND 1 of 4)

3) Meineke                                   Sun (ND 1 of 4)

4)  International                            Meineke

5)  PJ.com                                   PJ.com (probably)

6)  St Pete                                  St Pete

So where this deal is really better than old deal is that 1) the BE #2 slot is not sharing a bowl with B12, and is not giving away ND twice in 4 years.  2) the number 3 slot is better, the Sun > Meineke, and 3) The number 4 slot is a HUGE upgrade from International to the Meineke. 

[SANJAY]

Yes ND can still go twice in 4 years, but that is out of 8 slots not 4.