Potential 3rd Bowl Game for MAC in 2005!
Posted: Sat Oct 02, 2004 1:25 pm
Check out the following story from Toronto:
KERRY GILLESPIE
CITY HALL BUREAU CHIEF
The SkyDome could be host to an annual NCAA football bowl game starting next year.
SportsWorld Interactive LLC, the organizers of the successful Motor City Bowl in Detroit, approached Toronto with the idea of bringing a game to the city in December 2005.
"College football in the U.S., like the NFL, is quite a passionate sport and they feel there's a market for it here," said Brian Ashton, a councillor and chair of the economic development committee.
A report will come before his committee on Thursday asking council to let SportsWorld make the bid to the NCAA.
The report says the bowl game would feature a game between a team from the Big East Conference and a team from the Mid-American Conference.
Ashton thinks it's a great idea.
"This is part of broadening our sports events, it's employing our sports facilities in a better fashion. The domed stadium needs this type of activity," he said.
But Ashton's main interest in bringing a bowl game to the city are the "pigskin bucks" that would come with it.
Duncan Ross, head of Tourism Toronto, also has his eye on that ball.
"There are 100 million Americans within a day's drive of Toronto," Ross said.
The Motor City Bowl, which Toronto's would be modelled after, brings an average of $15 million (U.S.) a year to Detroit and attracts up to 25,000 out-of-town visitors.
The numbers would be similar for Toronto, Ross said.
A bowl game would "deliver visitors to the city at a time when there is capacity in hotels and brings media attention to the city," Ross said.
SportsWorld has said it will assume all the financial risks involved, he said.
All Toronto has to do is send a tourism official to attend a presentation to the NCAA event certification committee next April, the report says.
It is likely the economic development committee and full council will approve the plan later this month.
The schools in the two conferences being considered include Syracuse, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, Toledo, Ohio University and Bowling Green. Most of them are within a 10-hour drive of Toronto.
The report estimates that up to 45,000 spectators will attend the game, with 15,000 to 25,000 coming from the two competing teams, 10,000 being sold in the greater Toronto area and 5,000 to 10,000 tickets being donated as corporate gifts to charities, youth groups and youth athletic programs.
KERRY GILLESPIE
CITY HALL BUREAU CHIEF
The SkyDome could be host to an annual NCAA football bowl game starting next year.
SportsWorld Interactive LLC, the organizers of the successful Motor City Bowl in Detroit, approached Toronto with the idea of bringing a game to the city in December 2005.
"College football in the U.S., like the NFL, is quite a passionate sport and they feel there's a market for it here," said Brian Ashton, a councillor and chair of the economic development committee.
A report will come before his committee on Thursday asking council to let SportsWorld make the bid to the NCAA.
The report says the bowl game would feature a game between a team from the Big East Conference and a team from the Mid-American Conference.
Ashton thinks it's a great idea.
"This is part of broadening our sports events, it's employing our sports facilities in a better fashion. The domed stadium needs this type of activity," he said.
But Ashton's main interest in bringing a bowl game to the city are the "pigskin bucks" that would come with it.
Duncan Ross, head of Tourism Toronto, also has his eye on that ball.
"There are 100 million Americans within a day's drive of Toronto," Ross said.
The Motor City Bowl, which Toronto's would be modelled after, brings an average of $15 million (U.S.) a year to Detroit and attracts up to 25,000 out-of-town visitors.
The numbers would be similar for Toronto, Ross said.
A bowl game would "deliver visitors to the city at a time when there is capacity in hotels and brings media attention to the city," Ross said.
SportsWorld has said it will assume all the financial risks involved, he said.
All Toronto has to do is send a tourism official to attend a presentation to the NCAA event certification committee next April, the report says.
It is likely the economic development committee and full council will approve the plan later this month.
The schools in the two conferences being considered include Syracuse, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, Toledo, Ohio University and Bowling Green. Most of them are within a 10-hour drive of Toronto.
The report estimates that up to 45,000 spectators will attend the game, with 15,000 to 25,000 coming from the two competing teams, 10,000 being sold in the greater Toronto area and 5,000 to 10,000 tickets being donated as corporate gifts to charities, youth groups and youth athletic programs.
