MCB to get bigger payout, move up in pecking order

ab1994 · Post by **ab1994** » Tue Dec 28, 2004 2:58 pm

Not sure if his was posted yet, but saw this story in the freep

http://www.freep.com/sports/college/mot ... 041228.htm

Falconfreak90 · Post by **Falconfreak90** » Tue Dec 28, 2004 3:03 pm

And it should move up. It has delivered great crowds the last few years and if you put a MSU or Penn State in that game, it sells out.

Schadenfreude · Post by **Schadenfreude** » Tue Dec 28, 2004 3:08 pm

I sure hope they can pull it off. That's a fine bowl... and anyone who is paying attention can see that.

The MAC and the Big Ten have a good relationship, so I'm hopeful this can come to be. Heck, I see no reason we should remain stuck behind the Music City. Our bowl is better.

NWLB · Post by **NWLB** » Tue Dec 28, 2004 3:12 pm

This validates the view that the MAC has improved. The bowl scare this year has helped lock the MAC into the bids that it has. LDU getting blown out by BC and UConn actually helps in that it shows other prospective teams that you can indeed win in Detroit. Plus we have the same group running the MCB setting up the Toronto Bowl. Give or take Denver, I'd say things look good for the MAC. Lets hope Miami and NIU help balance out the blow out in Detroit, and the lame-duck cave-in the Herd had.

The extra money is logical given that we are hunting for bigger prey. However that they can get it, without a MAC lead-in being a negative to sponsors, is the really impressive part.

I was also impressed that WJR 760 AM "The Great Voice of the Great Lakes" had the game on. That station has a signal strong enough to be heard on toasters and children with braces in Kentucky.

Schadenfreude · Post by **Schadenfreude** » Tue Dec 28, 2004 3:16 pm

NWLB wrote:I was also impressed that WJR 760 AM "The Great Voice of the Great Lakes" had the game on. That station has a signal strong enough to be heard on toasters and children with braces in Kentucky.

I grew up within sight of the tower... and you aren't kidding about that signal.

PGY Tiercel · Post by **PGY Tiercel** » Tue Dec 28, 2004 3:30 pm

Didn't know there were children with teeth, let alone braces in the great Commonwealth of Kentucky.

Warthog · Post by **Warthog** » Tue Dec 28, 2004 3:31 pm

NWLB wrote:This validates the view that the MAC has improved. The bowl scare this year has helped lock the MAC into the bids that it has. LDU getting blown out by BC and UConn actually helps in that it shows other prospective teams that you can indeed win in Detroit. Plus we have the same group running the MCB setting up the Toronto Bowl. Give or take Denver, I'd say things look good for the MAC.

I have a feeling that if the money goes to $1.5 mil and the bid goes to the Big Ten #5, the MAC tie-in would be dropped in a heartbeat. I don't think the Big Ten would feel a MAC team would be a worthy bowl opponent for thier fifth place team.

So I will temper my enthusiasm for this announcement.

transfer2BGSU · Post by **transfer2BGSU** » Tue Dec 28, 2004 3:48 pm

"What Midwest team wouldn't love a $1-million take-home?" Hoffman said. "You're playing the MAC champion. That makes sense to us."

Excuse me? Am I reading this wrong, but it appears the bIg Ten rep would receive $1 million.

NWLB · Post by **NWLB** » Tue Dec 28, 2004 4:23 pm

PGY Tiercel wrote:Didn't know there were children with teeth, let alone braces in the great Commonwealth of Kentucky.

Point taken. I'll amend my comment to mean Horses with braces.

Wart(hog): It could be that the article is just pooly written. I don't think the NCAA allows for unqual payouts. Plus they clearly indicate they expect the MAC to be involved. The wording of the contract has always stated the MAC will have a link so long as the bowl exists. Of course, take that contract, a dollar, and a lawyer, and you can find a way around it.

In any case, the MCB knows they have a lock for "A" team, which after this year means more than it did. Plus the MAC has traveled well to this game. Moving up the Big Televen [sic] also means a boost in the bowls image and more fans showing up.

Schadenfreude · Post by **Schadenfreude** » Tue Dec 28, 2004 4:36 pm

I agree -- payouts will be the same on paper.

In practice, the Motor City Bowl could require both participants to guarantee a certain level of revenue, which could mean the payouts could become unequal in practice.

But I don't see that as such a big possibility.

Toledo and Bowling Green have done their parts these past few years. The direction Michigans would as well.

orangeandbrown · Post by **orangeandbrown** » Tue Dec 28, 2004 5:42 pm

I'm with the others. Its good news, but there are no permanent arrangements, and I hope we can stay involved with MCB as a conference and they don't outgrow us.

Schadenfreude · Post by **Schadenfreude** » Tue Dec 28, 2004 5:54 pm

orangeandbrown wrote:I'm with the others. Its good news, but there are no permanent arrangements, and I hope we can stay involved with MCB as a conference and they don't outgrow us.

WDET-FM, the public radio station, just aired a report that included quite a bit of quote from Ken Hoffman. Only thing of note was that he talked about pitting an upper division Big Ten team against "the MAC champion."

That last part could have been hyperbole... but I wonder if it might be something Hoffman tries to insist upon when trying to rework the bowl for '06 and beyond -- getting the champion.

I tend to think the MAC champion offers quite a bit of value to the Motor City Bowl... certainly in terms of selling seats. I have no immediate worries.

But if the Motor City locks in the MAC champ (or a division winner) versus Big Ten No. 5, the next step for the Motor City Bowl will be to look around for the next step. O&B is right to point out that, as a league, we will need to stay on our toes... and win some of these games.

JohnnySwoop '85 · Post by **JohnnySwoop '85** » Tue Dec 28, 2004 6:06 pm

I don't think that the MCB will outgrow the MAC....they have been a solid conference opponent for the past few years (up until yesterday) and regardless of who goes, half the conference schools and fan bases are within 4 hours of driving which is far less than the amount of time you spend in the South rebooking a cancelled flight.
Before the Big 10 starts muscling for a better opponent I have two suggestions 1.) Have #5 "open up a can" on the MAC champion in consecutive years ---no possible, it's still a good game; 2.) Make sure you can deliver 5 Bowl Eligible teams.

Besides how many teams are going to be from South of the Mason Dixon or west coast that want to go to Detroit in winter time.

NWLB · Post by **NWLB** » Wed Dec 29, 2004 9:21 am

I think the MCB is a blessing and a curse. It is the butt of more jokes in 1A football than I care to recite. With all due respect to folks in or near Detroit, being sent to play a bowl there isn't seen as a reward. The game itself is a good thing, nobody disputes that. A frozen-over Toronto, Boise, or Denver appeals to folks more than being sent to Detroit for any reason, much less two days after Christmas.

That said, the game has been good to the MAC. The MACC game winner being sent there, when almost any and all other options are considered more appealing games is ironic.

A better date might help if the game can butt its way to another day. A non-weekday would also help avoid problems.

Schadenfreude · Post by **Schadenfreude** » Wed Dec 29, 2004 9:32 am

NWLB wrote:A better date might help if the game can butt its way to another day. A non-weekday would also help avoid problems.

Thing is, the NFL owns the weekends this late in the year.

Typically, the game has been the day after Christmas. This year, it was two days later in order to avoid falling on a Sunday.

I imagine next year's game will be Dec. 26.

That's a good day. Few days are as good for playing hookie as the day after Christmas. The Big Three usually call off the whole week.

During the first few years, the Motor City Bowl was the butt of quite a few jokes -- even in Detroit. But I don't hear as many people laughing now.

Fact is, the Motor City is one of the best bowl games to include a non BCS team. The only bowl that's clearly better is the Liberty. It is also the longest running bowl ever played north of the Mason-Dixon line, and it has a bright future ahead.

We've come a long, long way from the days when we needed an NCAA exemption so our sole bowl game could offer a measly $150,000 payout.

If someone would have told us ten years ago that we'd be matched up with the Big Ten No. 5 in a new downtown Detroit football stadium, no one would have believed it.

What we have -- and are about to get, from the looks of things -- is great.

I really dig the Motor City Bowl.