St. Petersburg Bowl Approved

[MeanGreen61]

By BRETT McMURPHY | The Tampa Tribune

Published: April 30, 2008

The NCAA Bowl Certification Committee today approved the St. Petersburg Bowl, which will debut in December 2008.

The inaugural game will be played beween Dec. 20-23 at Tropicana Field, with the specific date yet to be determined.

Owned and operated by ESPN, the St. Pete Bowl will pit college football teams from the Big East and Conference USA at Tropicana Field. The inaugural game was planned for Sunday night, Dec. 21, but that changed when the NFL schedule assigned the Bucs a home game the same night against San Diego.

This is ESPN's sixth bowl game, joining the Las Vegas, Hawaii, Armed Forces, Papajohns.com and New Mexico bowls.

The proposal for the St. Petersburg Bowl was presented today in Hollywood, Fl., by a group of organizers and supporters led by Pete Derzis, senior vice president and general manager for ESPN Regional.

Others with Derzis were to include: St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Baker; D.T. Minich, Executive Director, St. Petersburg/Clearwater Area Convention and Visitors Bureau; Rob Higgins, Executive Director, Tampa Bay Sports Commission; Nick Carperelli, associate commissioner of the Big East; and a representative from Conference USA.

The Big East now has bowl berths for seven of its eight teams in 2008 and Conference USA will have six bowl berths for its 12 schools.

[UNTLifer]

The Big East now has bowl berths for seven of its eight teams in 2008 and Conference USA will have six bowl berths for its 12 schools.

And one of the conferences will never fill their spot every year opening up another opportunity for the Sun Belt.

I love this sales pitch:

"Come in 7th in your conference and go to a bowl game!" And we wonder what's wrong with people today. Continue to reward being mediocre and continue to receive mediocre results.

[Green Mean]

In the end this is just another spare bowl like just about every other one. A school going to a bowl game has become degraded and meaningless in my opinion.

[Coffee and TV]

Tropicana Field? LOLZ

[greenminer]

In the end this is just another spare bowl like just about every other one. A school going to a bowl game has become degraded and meaningless in my opinion.

Anyone out there remember how great it felt to get into that first NO Bowl? I bet there were a bunch of higher ups thinking the same thing you just said, about us back in 2001.

There are too many "meaningless" (don't like that adjective, but I'll stick with it for lack of better) bowls out there, but a new one that comes along should be given an opportunity to succeed.

What would solve our post-season woes? Should there be a limit to the number of bids a conference gets thus spreading the Big 6 wealth out to the rest of us Sun Belters/MACers/etc, or should there be more bowls?

I bet a lot of these newer bowls are just quick-fixes to satisfy the smaller masses until the bigger picture is solved: the BCS.

[SUMG]

And one of the conferences will never fill their spot every year opening up another opportunity for the Sun Belt.

Yeah, but I've noticed that even though.....there are three new bowls lining up for certification...none of them are wanting to hook up with The Sun Belt.

If and when we actually get a second bowl tie-in, that will be something to be thrilled about. But, to have to hope that other leagues not fill their commitments, isn't exactly a great situation.

[AnotherEagleFan]

Yeah, but I've noticed that even though.....there are three new bowls lining up for certification...none of them are wanting to hook up with The Sun Belt.

If and when we actually get a second bowl tie-in, that will be something to be thrilled about. But, to have to hope that other leagues not fill their commitments, isn't exactly a great situation.

FWIW I cannot remember CUSA not filling their bowl slots.

[SUMG]

FWIW I cannot remember CUSA not filling their bowl slots.

I really wasn't talking about C-USA. I was talking about being in a league (The Sun Belt)...which can't seem to get even a second bowl tie-in, and has to hope that other leagues don't have enough eligible teams to fill their bowls. The only times we've had two bowl teams (Troy to the San Jose Bowl, and MTSU to the Motor City Bowl), was when that happened.

[UNTLifer]

Yeah, but I've noticed that even though.....there are three new bowls lining up for certification...none of them are wanting to hook up with The Sun Belt.

If and when we actually get a second bowl tie-in, that will be something to be thrilled about. But, to have to hope that other leagues not fill their commitments, isn't exactly a great situation.

Oh, I agree with you, and am wondering when Wright Waters is going to pull that second bowl game out of his ....hat. It's as big a secret as when NT gets a new stadium.

I knew my original post would draw a response from our USM contingent.

[Arkstfan]

The Big East only had 6 bowl eligible teams last year.

[meangreendork]

Saint Petersburg Bowl? You know, in Soviet Russia, football catch you!

[GoMeanGreen1999]

In the end this is just another spare bowl like just about every other one.

Bingo. I have said now for the last 4 years or so, create a playoff with 8 or 16 teams, and leave the bowls in place for everyone else. As it stands now, the only people that really watch most of the bowls now are the fans of the teams playing the bowl, and those college football fans that are going to watch most of the bowls regardless of who is playing. So, you have a playoff and you still have the bowls for those three groups.

[AnotherEagleFan]

I knew my original post would draw a response from our USM contingent.

Not hard to do I'm on here most every day. But you have to admitt that I spend as much time defending the belt as I do my conference.

[FirefightnRick]

There can never be too much football on TV.

Rick

[UNTflyer]

There can never be too much football on TV.

Absolutely. With the exception of the International Bowl, I try to watch every single bowl game.