Another Sun Belt Article - 2nd Bowl

MeanGreen61 · July 25, 2007

Sun Belt negotiating for second bowl game

By ADAM SPARKS

sparks@dnj.com

— Adam Sparks, (615) 278-5167

NEW ORLEANS — Recall the finger-crossing MTSU fans had to endure last winter while they waited for their chance at an at-large bowl bid?

The Sun Belt is trying to avoid such anxiety in future seasons by securing a guaranteed spot in a second bowl for conference members.

Sun Belt commissioner Wright Waters addressed the subject of a second automatic bowl tie-in at the conference's athletic directors meeting this weekend and again at Tuesday's Sun Belt Football Media Days. Currently, the New Orleans Bowl awards one bid to the Sun Belt for the league's only automatic bowl slot.

"The No. 1 question I get at these things is, 'Well, is there going to be a second bowl?'" Waters said. "... We're committed to making it work. We've just got to find a way to make it work."

Waters said the Sun Belt has been approached by three existing bowls about establishing an automatic bid for a Sun Belt team, and one bowl is currently in negotiations with the Sun Belt.

Waters would not identify any of those prospective bowls. However, some likely candidates include the GMAC Bowl in Mobile, Ala., the New Mexico Bowl in Albuquerque, N.M. and the Papa Johns Bowl in Birmingham, Ala. All existing Division I-A bowls currently have conference tie-ins except the Poinsettia Bowl in San Diego. However, Waters said some bowl contracts could expire or be abandoned soon.

"There are all kinds of dynamics. One is that conferences are paying for bowls, and their resources are drying up in some instances," Waters said. "Will they continue to support those games? All of the bowls, except the Poinsettia Bowl, are contracted for two teams. Should one of those conferences lose their contract, then we are financially prepared to inherit that responsibility.

"Of course, a second option is to start a bowl. And then a third option is do what we did last year and make sure our seven-win teams are in position to take advantage of the rules."

MTSU earned an at-large bid to the Motor City Bowl last season, assuming a spot intended for a Big Ten team. However, the Big Ten could not fill the slot with a bowl-eligible team, and MTSU took advantage of a new rule that says teams with a winning record overrule 6-6 teams for at-large bowl bids.

MTSU athletic director Chris Massaro said such good fortune is not guaranteed every year.

"We were an at-large team and went to a great bowl, but you don't want to put yourself in that position every year," Massaro said. "If there were another 7-5 team, would we have gotten the bid? I don't know."

The Sun Belt will not secure a second bowl tie-in this season. A bowl contract for the 2008 season would be the earliest movement for Sun Belt in either creating a new bowl or securing a spot in an existing bowl. Waters said he prefers the latter.

"We have a limited staff in our office, so I would rather work with an existing bowl," Waters said. "It's more expensive to do that, but to make bowls work financially you need people working at them 12 months a year. We just don't have the staff to run 19 championships and 70 TV games and certify 4,500 student-athletes and still produce an event of that magnitude."

Massaro also recognized the cost of buying an annual automatic bowl bid or creating a bowl.

"You have to subsidize the bowl, so there's an economic factor where I think the conference cost would be $1.1 million to operate a (new) bowl game," Massaro said. "So you'd have to go to the (host) city and then go to another conference and say, 'Do you want to pay half.' Then you try to get sponsorships and you can reduce it down. It could be a fairly significant investment as a league, but I think it's one we could be ready to take on. Filling a bowl is no longer an issue for the Sun Belt."

The Sun Belt has put a second team in a bowl in two of the previous three years. Before MTSU in last season's Motor City Bowl, Troy played in the now-extinct Silicon Valley Classic in 2004.

Waters said a second bowl tie-in for the Sun Belt is inevitable. The only questions are when, where and with whom.

"If it was only a financial decision, then we would do nothing and leave things the way they are," Waters said. "But from a recruiting standpoint, and especially with Western Kentucky coming into the league in 2009 to give us nine teams, it's important that we secure that guaranteed spot for each year."

Edited July 25, 2007 by MeanGreen61