The Bowl buzz

1987alum · Post by **1987alum** » Wed Apr 13, 2005 8:48 am

Swiped this from a newspaper story (focus on the Mountain West wanting out of its Liberty Bowl slot so it could look for options in the West) via the NIU forum (btw, would have linked directly to the story in The Casper Tribune, but the Web site s*ks so bad I couldn't find it) ...

The pieces would begin to fit together if the NCAA Football Certification Subcommittee gives San Diego officials the green light to launch a second bowl game. The city already hosts the wildly successful Holiday Bowl.

The Poinsettia Bowl would match a Mountain West team against Navy or an opponent from Conference USA or the Western Athletic Conference, Thompson said. Bowl officials have already secured a sponsorship deal and arranged a television contract, he added.

If the NCAA subcommittee, which meets at the end of the month in Phoenix, decides to add a 29th bowl game, Thompson said he's "extremely confident" that the Poinsettia Bowl would be first on the list.

It's also possible that at least one of the existing 28 bowl games -- the Houston Bowl and the Silicon Valley Classic in San Jose barely made the cut a year ago -- will not be re-certified. If that happens, a second bowl game in San Diego would almost certainly receive approval.

I'm assuming that the folks in Toronto will also be making a pitch. Concerns me that the MWC poobah seems to think that the Poinsettia Bowl would be first choice.

I wonder if Toronto has "already secured a sponsorship deal and arranged a television contract" as the San Diego group claims to have done.

Go Toronto!

Class of 61 · Post by **Class of 61** » Wed Apr 13, 2005 10:07 am

87,
What concerns me almost as much is that they're talking about a possible matchup with a C-USA team....doesn't that conference have enough bowls already? Not to mention the fact that a couple of their best teams are no longer in the league? (Oh yeah, I forgot...they added Marshall and UCF)

1987alum · Post by **1987alum** » Wed Apr 13, 2005 10:11 am

61:

Agreed. C-USA in that bowl seems a little far-fetched for me. I have to imagine they'd focus on a MWC-WAC matchup. Liberty Bowl is looking to replace MWC with a Big East tie-in, which could create some tension if Toronto gets certified.

NWLB · Post by **NWLB** » Wed Apr 13, 2005 11:14 am

It may be nothing, but I head some buzz a couple of months ago, that Toronto wasn't going to happen this year at all. 2006 may be as soon as we can hope to see that game come through. The total lack of buzz from the games administration would seem to mean either they are well ahead of schedule, or far behind where they want to be.