Big XII picks up 3 bowls

[MeanGreen61]

Fort Worth Bowl is not on the Big XII's new bowl list

http://newsok.com/article/1549456/?templat...ate=sports/main

[MeanGreen61]

Big 12 moves may hurt Fort Worth Bowl

By WENDELL BARNHOUSE

Star-Telegram Staff Writer

Summer heat and humidity aren't the only reasons Fort Worth Bowl officials are sweating. By the end of this week, the fledgling bowl should know if it will maintain a crucial tie-in with the Big 12 Conference.

"We've done all we could do," Fort Worth Bowl executive director Tom Starr said Tuesday. "It appears that we're competing against established bowls that are offering significantly higher payouts. It's just a game that, financially, we can't play at this stage."

The Big 12 appears poised to change its bowl lineup starting with the 2006 season. The Big 12 has tentatively agreed to a unique deal with the Gator and Sun bowls.

The conference's bowl tie-ins for the 2006 season could be finalized by the end of the week. Two sources said that the Big 12 also is expected to announce a deal with the Insight Bowl, with the opponent to come from the Big Ten Conference.

If the Big 12's new bowl deals come through, the league would be looking for a final, seventh tie-in. That would leave current partners Fort Worth, Independence and Houston vying for that one spot.

The Fort Worth Bowl last week lost its corporate sponsor, PlainsCapital. Starr said the bowl has been exploring all options regarding its team matchups, including the possibility of leaving one side open to an at-large team.

The new arrangement would allow a Big 12 team to twice play in the Gator Bowl over a four-year period; the other two years, the Sun Bowl in El Paso would host a Big 12 team.

Big 12 associate commissioner Bob Burda said that the league has had discussions with the Gator and the Sun.

"We have a high level of interest in adding the Gator to the Big 12 bowl lineup," Burda said. "It gives us another New Year's Day bowl, the game is played in a top-notch NFL stadium and it's in a state that is a target for recruiting players."

The Atlantic Coast Conference would supply the anchor team for the Gator in the new arrangement. In two out of four years, the Big 12 would send a team to the Gator, with the Big East Conference sending a team to the Sun Bowl. Notre Dame is also involved in the contract.

The Florida Times-Union reported that Gator Bowl chairman Mike Hartley has verbal agreements from the Big 12 and the Big East regarding the new deal.

A potential stumbling block is NBC. The Gator must negotiate its TV contract with NBC, which also televises Notre Dame games. If the network doesn't like the new Gator-Sun-Big 12 arrangement, it could force the Gator to seek a different TV partner.

In another bowl move, sources indicate that the Liberty Bowl is close to a deal that would match an ACC team against the Conference USA champion starting in 2006. The ACC would replace the Mountain West Conference champion in the Liberty.

[NT80]

Would the Ft Worth Bowl be open to a SBC #2 ?

[emmitt01]

Would the Ft Worth Bowl be open to a SBC #2 ?

Not as long as NT is SBC #1 and you can't guarantee that ULL or ULM would be #2. Short of one of those three teams being the SBC rep I don't see enough people travelling to make it viable. I think that either of the UL? schools would bring a good contingent if they were to become bowl eligible though.

[Cerebus]

I think that either of the UL? schools would bring a good contingent if they were to become bowl eligible though.

+ASU

[Arkstfan]

We won't bring squat to Denton this year due to Thanksgiving but we've brought around a thousand before in so-so years and took 2,000 to New Orleans for the NCAA Tournament with only four days to sell tickets.

We would travel to Fort Worth for a bowl game.

I think MTSU and Troy would both travel fairly well.