Bowl Rumor Stuff Heatin' Up

MeanGreen61 · August 6, 2005

If ,by chance, the rumor proves to be true about the Sun Belt/FW Bowl, how much is/was UNT a factor in the decision? Oh well, it's an interesting discussion.

MWC Board

http://www.mwcboard.com/www/forums/index.php?showtopic=953

Arkstfan comments on Sun Belt board

http://www.tribalgrounds.com/belt/forum_en...=all&order=time

Arkstfan · August 6, 2005

When the title sponsor for Fort Worth is announced it will be clear who was most important to the deal (though UNT being so close is very nice).

SUMG · August 6, 2005

While I would love for us to have a tie-in with the FW Bowl....I would HATE for UNT to have to go to that bowl, every year that we win conference. (as it states).

Go to FW once in a December.....and we'll all see very quickly how much we'd miss New Orleans. Trust me on that.

BIG DAWG · August 6, 2005

New Orleans or Ft.Worth, New Orleans or Ft.Worth, New Orleans or Ft.Worth,....

New Orleans

ntmeangreen11 · August 6, 2005

Second bowl tie-in to Miami,third bowl tie-in to Ft. Worth.

We don't have to worry about either,we're always going to win!

UNTFan23 · August 6, 2005

Having been to all four of the bowl games in New Orleans, I'm ready for a change in venue, if even only for a year.

PlummMeanGreen · August 6, 2005

While I would love for us to have a tie-in with the FW Bowl....I would HATE for UNT to have to go to that bowl, every year that we win conference. (as it states).
Go to FW once in a December.....and we'll all see very quickly how much we'd miss New Orleans. Trust me on that.
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Now hold it just a minute here, Johnny. Take it easy on ol' Cowtown.

Yes, December weather is not always fan friendly in these parts, but many of us have seen more of the nicer weather during Christmas month than the real nasty variety which the FW Bowl unfortunately had last year. How many Indian summer Cotton Bowls have many of us seen, but most of us will not forget the ice storm Cotton Bowl game that featured UH and Notre Dame back in 19??

Yet Fort Worth business tycoon and newspaper mogul Amon Carter made sure that Fort Worth would always be a fun place for tourists coming to our area. I think it was he who said people go to Dallas to do business, but they come over to Fort Worth to have their fun. And FW is more of a tourist destination than most may even realize. There are many reasons for that, too, and I'll just list a few. (SUMG, the following chamber of commerce pitch is not for you as you probably know more about the FW area than probably some living in Cowtown; but this is for visitors of GMG.com who know little or nothing about the other end of the turnpike from "Big D" Texas).

Firstly, just across from Fort Worth's University of North Texas Health Science Center are 2 world class museums, ie, the Kimball Art Museum and the Amon Carter Western Museum. If you like the western works of Remington and Charles Russell, check out AC's Western Museum to see many of their original works. All this in FW's cultural district which now includes the recently opened National Cowgirls Hall of Fame (yall really have to check that out--most impressive for both men and women; then the Omni-Theatre (which is a larger version of UNT's main campuses' Sky Theatre which always has an interesting movie shown almost literally in the round. For sure, don't forget FW's internationally famous Casa Manana musical theatre where some of Hollywood's brightest stars have performed.

Fort Worth has as good a zoo as there is anywhere in the world and if any of you haven't seen it lately, get ready for a big surprise.

Lest we forget, go down north main several blocks from downtown Fort Worth and you have Billy Bob's Texas (the World's Largest Honky Tonk) with top name musica acts of all kinds of music other than just country; also, check out the FW Stockyards where Chisum started many of his cattle drives as I recall the story.

Also, while in what many of us call North side, visit Stockyards Hotel on the corner of Main and Exchange Street where Chief Quanah Parker once stayed overnight as he and some of his Commanche braves were down from Cache, Oklahoma for the grand opening of Cowtown Coliseum by the FW Exchange Bldg. Also, all the countless "tourist oriented" watering holes each full of some of the prettiest Texas honeys this side of UNT's main campus in Denton..

Then go to downtown FW with its Sundance Square (and you have many times, SUMG, since you've entertained many times in that part of Fort Worth). Check out Bass Hall which is as fine an opera house as there is in any city in Europe--just much newer and more modern being the main difference.

Tourist should then plan on going to the south end of downtown FW to what used to be called the Texas Hotel (now the Hyatt) where President John F. Kennedy spent his last night before going to Dallas and see their impressive yet simple memorial to the president.

And not to leave out TCU since that is where the FW Bowl is held. Anyone who can walk into their Grand Old Lady of a football stadium, ie, Amon Carter Stadium, sit in it and not feel the ghosts of Slingin' Sammy Baugh, Davey O' Brien, Coach Dutch Meyer and many simiilar are just not feeling Amon Carter Stadium like (perhaps) most of us pure college football fans would.

So am I saying Fort Worth over New Orleans for a bowl game? Of course not, as New Orleans is what some call one of the world's mystique cities, but Fort Worth is by no means an over-grown barren Texas rolling plain full of tumbleweed and cactus (except that that used to be in the glass atrium of the former Caravan of Dreams jazz club).

Edited August 6, 2005 by PlummMeanGreen

MeanGreen61 · August 6, 2005

Plumm you just gotta shorten your post some. I nodded off a couple of time trying to get thru this last saga

SUMG · August 6, 2005

Nothing against Ft. Worth...I like the town.

And who knows what any arrangement might be. But, Cajun Nation posted that any year in which UNT is the league champ, that we would PROBABLY go to the FW Bowl.

If that ended up being the case.....would you like that deal? I wouldn't.

As much as some like to bitch about how many times we've been to the NO Bowl.....our fans have kept that bowl afloat.

One more great thing about NO: Don't underestimate the domed stadium in Dec.

(If either of the last two NO Bowls had been outside, they would have been miserable.....and that's in NO).

I'll give Plumm this much credit. He has cahoneys. Never has someone who's never been to a NO Bowl, been such an expert on the bowl atmosphere down there.

NT80 · August 7, 2005

As league champ, I'd still prefer us go to the Big Easy. If we finish less than first then Ft. Worth would be a great consolation prize. And Yes, it is usually too cold in DFW the end of December to be at an outdoor stadium. Just ask the Ft. Worth Bowl fans here last year.

PlummMeanGreen · August 7, 2005

John, I guess you are once again correct in that I don't have cahoneys because I do not fly and have not flown in any airlines for almost 30 years. I think even several on this board know that by now.

I would not have a problem making the 20 minute drive to the FW Bowl if that ever occured but "drive" is the key word here. As I posted, I still think New Orleans is the more intriguing of the 2 town for our fans based on when I drove the 9 hours (from DFW) to the Big Easy to attend a convention years ago with the Latina girl you met at Alliance Airport's Subway Sandwhich.

stebo · August 7, 2005

I am going to guess that it is Movie Gallery. They took a dip into the bowl climate last year and probably liked the attention they received from the SVFC. Also, they are starting to make their way into the DFW area. I have seen about 4 stores pop up over the last year and before that there were none (that I knew of). Their only competition is Blockbuster and most people do not like Blockbuster these days. With the "end of late fees" thing, the movies rarely getreturned on time and you can almost never find a decent new release when you go in there. On the weekends it is impossible, not even worth the gaoline to drive up there and look around - the shelves are bare and the ones that they do have are overpriced. That being said, I love their online rental program. I have been a subsriber for about a year now and have never had any problems. Movies ship fast and get here in a day because the distribution center is just up the highway. New releases are usually available and they have all those hard to find "tv shows on DVD" that you can never find at the stores. So I think Blockbusters future lies with the online rental program and that leaves a nice area of opportunity for Movie Gallery to move into the DFW area and become a high quality "old fashioned" movie rental store, where you can actually get the movies you want at a good price, keep them a few days and get them back so that the next guy can rent them as well.

I can see Movie Gallery being the Ft Worth Bowl sponsor and that giving the Sun Belt a 2nd bowl tie in due to their excellent relationship with Troy University. I don't think it will be Mattress Mac, he already tried out the bowl bmarket with the Houston Bowl and pulled out when the money didn't justify the results. Plus I would think that Mac would have pre-empted it by getting a few stores opened in the area before he thre money into a bowl game for Fort Worth... but then again, you never know. Maybe Mac is wanting to move into the DFW area and this would be his "I want to be involved in the community" type of announcement.

FirefightnRick · August 8, 2005

I'll give Plumm this much credit. He has cahoneys. Never has someone who's never been to a NO Bowl, been such an expert on the bowl atmosphere down there.

LOL! Beat me to it.

I'm with SUMG, I'd take N.O. over playing in FW 100 times.

Rick

MeanGreen61 · August 8, 2005

From a couple of post on the CUSA board. Possible that the Ft Worth Bowl will move?

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Simply not the way the contract will read....again you are making an assumption based on the game being in Ft. Worth and on TCU's campus

That jives with an article in the DMN back in May quoted below:

With no long-term connection to Amon Carter, the bowl could also consider moving to Texas Stadium or the Cowboys' new stadium in Arlington.

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Well, it looks as though the Fort Worth Bowl will be renamed and moved to Dallas and could possibly become a CUSA vs SBC bowl game.

untgirl04 · August 8, 2005

Although New Orleans does have a certain amount of mystique, I think the Ft Worth Bowl might be a nice change of venue.

1. Because the bowl is so much closer to the UNT community, many fans who cannot make the long drive out to NO (kudos to those of you who do) might be able to make it to the Ft. Worth Bowl. We would certainly have a larger showing than the meager Ft. Worth bowl attendance last year with our fans alone.

2. NO has a lot of stuff to do. I realize, for the fan that this is a great bonus. There are plenty of places to drink and gamble and get immersed in that Cajun atmosphere. However, that is also a major distraction for the players.

I wasn't able to go to the NO Bowl last year, so I had to content myself with a watching party. The commentators mentioned over and over again how "Dickey's boys" were partying and staying out late for the nights preceeding the game, while Southern Miss was very focused and concentrated only on preparing for the game. That wasn't the kind of thing I liked to hear about our school. While our boys deserve a break and a bit of vacation after a very tough year, they are down there to play football, and sometimes it's easy to get distracted with other things.

3. The Fort Worth Bowl has a later bowl date. There is a certain amount of hype for the first game of the season, but with the Sugar Bowl being in the same stadium, some of the interest gets lost in the hype for a much larger game. The Ft. Worth Bowl would afford us the opportunity to be more in the middle of the bowl season, as well as have a game in a stadium with no other bowl games. Because NT is more of a local team, there's a greater possibility of Ft. Worth natives attending the game.

PlummMeanGreen · August 8, 2005

I feel like one who has missed church for 3 months in a row and the deacons and church-lady types are getting all over me!

If I look back at my "chamber of commerce'ish" post about the virtues of FW, I don't recall saying I was expert on anything on this board except I think I do a farily good job of not going after posters as an attempt to belittle them or suggest that one alums way may be right and the other alums is not, any posters possible problems with using airlines as a mode of transportation or even a posters opinions in general. Yet I have noticed a handful on this board have mastered some or all the aforementioned quite well.

GMG!

Edited August 8, 2005 by PlummMeanGreen

SUMG · August 8, 2005

One thing that we don't know and won't know unless we experience is this:

Would we actually take more fans to Ft. Worth for a bowl....than we have to games in New Orleans?

Some seem to think so. I don't know. I know that when you are in NO for a game, you run into some fans who ONLY go to the New Orleans Bowl, that is the only game they make every year. (Some of those are alums; some are students).

I don't know if FW has the allure to bring those folks to a game.

Also, how many fans have we taken to the TCU games in the past? 2000 tops?

I know, I know.....this would be for a bowl game. But, I just think that the lack of allure of FW.......when compared to NO.......and there's a darn good possibilty that we would take less fans to a bowl game in Cowtown, than we would to one in New Orleans.

(And addressing what untgirl said: Being down there, it seemed that our coaches had clamped down on the partying last year. If that's not the case, and we had players who had had too good of a time, and weren't focused on winning the game---I wish our coaches/AD staff would let us fans know beforehand. That way, I won't waste $700 going to watch a football team that isn't into the game).

Harry · August 8, 2005

One thing that we don't know and won't know unless we experience is this:
Would we actually take more fans to Ft. Worth for a bowl....than we have to games in New Orleans?
Some seem to think so. I don't know. I know that when you are in NO for a game, you run into some fans who ONLY go to the New Orleans Bowl, that is the only game they make every year. (Some of those are alums; some are students).
I don't know if FW has the allure to bring those folks to a game.
Also, how many fans have we taken to the TCU games in the past? 2000 tops?
I know, I know.....this would be for a bowl game. But, I just think that the lack of allure of FW.......when compared to NO.......and there's a darn good possibilty that we would take less fans to a bowl game in Cowtown, than we would to one in New Orleans.
(And addressing what untgirl said: Being down there, it seemed that our coaches had clamped down on the partying last year. If that's not the case, and we had players who had had too good of a time, and weren't focused on winning the game---I wish our coaches/AD staff would let us fans know beforehand. That way, I won't waste $700 going to watch a football team that isn't into the game).
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They would both be good options SUMG. Frankly, Fort Worth right now has a better downtown than Dallas. It's close and there are plenty of good places that we could party etc. It can't hold a candle to New Orleans but the cost of getting up to New Orleans keeps some of our fans from going. I really think we could get a nice contingent to Fort Worth especially if the opponent was recognizable...

I hope like hades we get them both because it would be really nice for the conference.

H-towngreen · August 8, 2005

Another bowl tie in would be great for the belt. I think we would bring twice as many people to a bowl in cowtown than in the N.O.

ADLER · August 8, 2005

We could certainly use a bowl game in our own market. The local media has to follow your success, and you have the fan presence to get home field advantage. Who thought of the Hurricanes as a national power before Miami upset the Cornhuskers in the 1982 Orange Bowl? Suddenly, some relatively unknown small private school which wasn't a member of any of the 'power' conferences was elevated to superpower status. They delivered a knockout punch in front of the right people. [ yes, I know that may be an extreme example, but it was to make the point clear]

Yes, North Texas has been playing in a nice bowl in a fantastic destination, but to the local media and to the local sports fans, North Texas has still been toiling in relative obscurity.

The North Texas students are from the Metroplex, the North Texas alumni live in the Metroplex, the North Texas ticket buying customers are in the Metroplex, the North Texas media is based in the Metroplex, and the North Texas recruiting base is in the Metroplex. Where would it be best to play a bowl game? You guessed it, in the Metroplex.

*Please note that I am not excluding playing in other locals, but a bowl game in D/FW would do wonders for North Texas' perception.

PlummMeanGreen · August 8, 2005

We could certainly use a bowl game in our own market. The local media has to follow your success, and you have the fan presence to get home field advantage. Who thought of the Hurricanes as a national power before Miami upset the Cornhuskers in the 1982 Orange Bowl? Suddenly, some relatively unknown small private school which wasn't a member of any of the 'power' conferences was elevated to superpower status. They delivered a knockout punch in front of the right people. [ yes, I know that may be an extreme example, but it was to make the point clear]
Yes, North Texas has been playing in a nice bowl in a fantastic destination, but to the local media and to the local sports fans, North Texas has still been toiling in relative obscurity.
The North Texas students are from the Metroplex, the North Texas alumni live in the Metroplex, the North Texas ticket buying customers are in the Metroplex, the North Texas media is based in the Metroplex, and the North Texas recruiting base is in the Metroplex. Where would it be best to play a bowl game? You guessed it, in the Metroplex.
*Please note that I am not excluding playing in other locals, but a bowl game in D/FW would do wonders for North Texas' perception.
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Once again, ADLER, you are preaching to the choir here.

As everyone and their dogs, goats and sheep know by now, I don't fly so NO's has been an impossibility for me & especially for a week day game, but I'm sure I'd be able to rev' up the old Studebaker and make the 20 minute drive from Parker County to Amon Carter Stadium if that ever occurred for the Mean Green BUT THE POINT I WANT TO MAKE HERE IS....

......many of you have been nice enough to recreate your NO's Bowl experience to me (even get me a Big Easy/NO's Bowl t-shirt, Huff & Mrs Huff most every year) to make it feel that I was there (as much as that is possble), but we also know we have our New Orleans Bowl/NT alums who many of you have told me you never see at Fouts Field for regular season games. So........it would be good to get that group of fans back to the Metroplex and hopefully back on campus so they can see whats going on in Mean Green Country. When that happens, maybe we have some more NT fans coming home to Fouts Field. Who knows maybe one of them will see that empty spot north of the new AC and have a few ideas or 2 that would fill in that space thats 'bout the size of a football field.

Edited August 8, 2005 by PlummMeanGreen

Arkstfan · August 8, 2005

I'd rather see a situation where it is flexible as to where the champion goes. Just say going in that the league champ is guaranteed a bowl.

If someone qualifies BCS send 'em off there.

If Troy wins the league and the sponsors of the Ft. Worth Bowl want them there while New Orleans wants ULL, let 'em go that way.

If Arkansas State is second and bowl eligible and {cough} SMU is slated for Ft. Worth and its a rematch (could happen in 06 and 07) then flip us over to New Orleans. If ASU is first Memphis is slated for Fort Worth flip us over to Fort Worth.

It is much more important to create two good match-ups for our bowl partners than it is for New Orleans to be THE destination for the league champ.

NT80 · August 8, 2005

I'd rather see a situation where it is flexible as to where the champion goes. Just say going in that the league champ is guaranteed a bowl.
If someone qualifies BCS send 'em off there.
If Troy wins the league and the sponsors of the Ft. Worth Bowl want them there while New Orleans wants ULL, let 'em go that way.
If Arkansas State is second and bowl eligible and {cough} SMU is slated for Ft. Worth and its a rematch (could happen in 06 and 07) then flip us over to New Orleans. If ASU is first Memphis is slated for Fort Worth flip us over to Fort Worth.
It is much more important to create two good match-ups for our bowl partners than it is for New Orleans to be THE destination for the league champ.
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I agree with what you're saying for the teams and Bowl, but for the fan there's no comparison between New Orleans and Ft. Worth as a destination in December.

Green92 · August 8, 2005

agree with what you're saying for the teams and Bowl, but for the fan there's no comparison between New Orleans and Ft. Worth as a destination in December.

I don't know about that, last two times I been to NO there was a freak cold spell and froze my butt off.

GrandGreen · August 8, 2005

My quess is that metroplex recruits are far more impressed with the possibiliby of gong to New Orleans than Fort Worth. Giving equal opponents, I doubt NT would take as many to the Forth Worth bowl game as New Orleans. As for freezing in NO, at least if you made it to the game you should have been comfy, hardly the case last year in Fort Worth.

Actually Fort Worth could be an excellent bowl location, but IMO holds little allure for locals. As DD has stated the Belt currently has the best non-bcs series bowl in the country, why would anyone want to change that? The only downside to the NO bowl is that you are not going to get much local attention in a tourist city that alrready support a wide variety of events.