10 Questions for Britton Banowsky: C-USA commish talks bowls

[Harry]

1. Will there be more C-USA expansion?

Banowsky: “We are clearly in a period of analysis going forward, but we are not in a period of active expansion. We put opportunities in front of our group in June and said, ‘How do you feel? What do you want to do? Here is our lineup, and here are our assets.’ They said, ‘Let’s stop and evaluate.’ Fair enough. I’m totally comfortable with that.”

2. C-USA has six automatic bowl tie-ins for the 2013 season. How are bids earned and negotiated?

Banowsky: “We do things a little bit differently, and it’s worked out really well. A champion is dedicated to the Liberty Bowl. But beyond that, we work with our partners to find the best overall teams in the right slots. We don’t give them all selection order like some other conferences do. They let us know what their preferences are. We look at it and ask our schools what they are thinking, and we try to do what’s right to maximize it. We don’t need five bowl teams flying cross-country when four of them could be driving.”

3. What kind of discussion has there been of what the divisions will look like in 2014?

Banowsky: “We have not had those (discussions). I know people have speculated about it. But we have not really dived into it.”

4. On the field football-wise, do you think the new schools (from the Sun Belt and WAC) can compete with the pre-existing C-USA schools?

Banowsky: “Well, we will find out. I don’t know for sure how it will go because there’s not a lot of history of competition between the programs in many cases. So we will learn a lot. My sense is that we will have a lot of competitiveness in both divisions, and we will have some great games. I’m looking forward to the beginnings of new rivalries. Of course, there will be an end to some other rivalries.”

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