I am glad the Birmingham Bowl is there....but I don't understand why Big East and CUSA did not have a larger voice in setting up another bowl. It appears to me, and I certainly can be misinformed, that BE and CUSA did not have a lot of input and that the Birmingham Bowl sort of jumped out of the wordwork as a surprise. I, for one, would have preferred a Florida Bowl in either St. Pete or Orlando between BE and CUSA...make it CUSA #3 vs BE #4 and make it after Xmas. Seems this would be a better Bowl situation than either Houston Bowl and/or Poinsettia Bowl. And, with USF and UCF close by and likely participants, my guess it would have great attendance.

Tranghese has never been accused of being a smart one.

l-yes, was he blindsighted by this too? just kidding

Well considering how fragile so many bowl bids are...both CUSA and Big East were smart to say YES to Birmingham for now.

Look for a Big East/CUSA or CUSA/ACC Bowl Game in UCF's new on-campus stadium in the near future.

UCF's new AD, Keith Tribble (former CEO of the Orange Bowl for 13 years) will help CUSA and/or Big East/ACC with this possible game in the near future.

ACC wants more Bowl Games in FLA...and Big East and CUSA will want continued FLA exposure.

This will probably be a pre-Christmas Game...as now the Champs Sports Bowl Game has officially moved to just a few days before the Citrus Bowl.

This new bowl game will not be run by FL Citrus Sports...as it will be held at UCF's new stadium instead (which is fine for a crowd of 30,000-40,000 which most pre-Christmas games get).

KL

KnightLight Wrote:Well considering how fragile so many bowl bids are...both CUSA and Big East were smart to say YES to Birmingham for now.

Look for a Big East/CUSA or CUSA/ACC Bowl Game in UCF's new on-campus stadium in the near future.

UCF's new AD, Keith Tribble (former CEO of the Orange Bowl for 13 years) will help CUSA and/or Big East/ACC with this possible game in the near future.

ACC wants more Bowl Games in FLA...and Big East and CUSA will want continued FLA exposure.

This will probably be a pre-Christmas Game...as now the Champs Sports Bowl Game has officially moved to just a few days before the Citrus Bowl.

This new bowl game will not be run by FL Citrus Sports...as it will be held at UCF's new stadium instead (which is fine for a crowd of 30,000-40,000 which most pre-Christmas games get).

KL

Que the USF fan refutation in 5, 4, 3 , 2, 1............

I would love to see a Big East Bowl somewhere in Florida wether is in Orlando, st Pette or Tampa. Not sure why the Big East hasnt pursued it more, i remember hearing from one of the Outback people that they would be interested in an earlier game in the Tampa-St Pete area.

Cubanbull Wrote:I would love to see a Big East Bowl somewhere in Florida wether is in Orlando, st Pette or Tampa. Not sure why the Big East hasnt pursued it more, i remember hearing from one of the Outback people that they would be interested in an earlier game in the Tampa-St Pete area.

Big East use to have the Champs Sports Bowl slot but that was changed to the Big 12.

Now...new Champs Sports Bowl contract is an ACC/Big 10 match-up.

ANY new bowl in FLA...either a new one in Tampa/St Pete or at UCF's new stadium would be great!

KL

Step back from the dreams for a minute. The Big East isn't going to steal the Champs Bowl, or any other bowl, away from other BCS conferences.

What we need to do, and we now have a great chance to do this because of the Houston debacle, is start a second bowl in Tampa. I have been saying this for two years. Strike while the iron is hot. Houston has left an opening and it is time for the Big East to be proactive in something.

All we have to do is convince the Big 12 to forget about Houston and send their #8 team to Tampa to face the #4 team from the Big East. That is the same match-up they wanted to do in Houston anyway. Tampa is a better destination. Starting a game there is a no brainer bowl solution.

Birmingham? It is our #6 bowl and we would be stupid to say no. I personally, though, don't want to do much of anything with CUSA. No interest.

KnightLight Wrote:Well considering how fragile so many bowl bids are...both CUSA and Big East were smart to say YES to Birmingham for now.

Look for a Big East/CUSA or CUSA/ACC Bowl Game in UCF's new on-campus stadium in the near future.

UCF's new AD, Keith Tribble (former CEO of the Orange Bowl for 13 years) will help CUSA and/or Big East/ACC with this possible game in the near future.

ACC wants more Bowl Games in FLA...and Big East and CUSA will want continued FLA exposure.

This will probably be a pre-Christmas Game...as now the Champs Sports Bowl Game has officially moved to just a few days before the Citrus Bowl.

This new bowl game will not be run by FL Citrus Sports...as it will be held at UCF's new stadium instead (which is fine for a crowd of 30,000-40,000 which most pre-Christmas games get).

KL

Can Orlando support three bowl games?

Don't think that is possible.

Besides wouldn't holding bowl game in your stadium violate your agreement to only hold UCF games on campus?

Krocker Krapp Wrote:Step back from the dreams for a minute. The Big East isn't going to steal the Champs Bowl, or any other bowl, away from other BCS conferences.

What we need to do, and we now have a great chance to do this because of the Houston debacle, is start a second bowl in Tampa. I have been saying this for two years. Strike while the iron is hot. Houston has left an opening and it is time for the Big East to be proactive in something.

All we have to do is convince the Big 12 to forget about Houston and send their #8 team to Tampa to face the #4 team from the Big East. That is the same match-up they wanted to do in Houston anyway. Tampa is a better destination. Starting a game there is a no brainer bowl solution.

Birmingham? It is our #6 bowl and we would be stupid to say no. I personally, though, don't want to do much of anything with CUSA. No interest.

I agree.

Part of the problem for Florida based schools other than UF, is that travelling to bowl games of no consequence to cold weather venues such as ATL, Charlotte etc....doesn't seem like a reward since we live in paradise.

The Big EAST screwed big time when it didn't make a stronger bid to retain the Champs Bowl. It would have been perfect for newbie teams like USF to cut their teeth on and would be a great reward for our northern teams to come enjoy our 85?F temperatures in late December.


A 2nd bowl game in TampaBay makes a lot of sense but I don't know if there is enough corporate support to make it first class like the Outback Bowl, which is up there with the Gator, Cotton and Bank One as the best non-BCS games.

I was certainly hoping USF could pull some strings and get a corporate guy with fat pockets to start another bowl. We need another florida bowl game period. All this toronto and other garbage is killing me. Nothing Against toronto its a excellent city, but you will get a bigger crowd from any school if it was in florida period. I like the city of birmingham but damn how long can the stadium hold up without falling apart?

I think a second Tampa Bowl can work. The Outback people would probably help. George Steinbrenner would probably help. The Buccaneers would probably help. Once you get those three groups on board, the other investors will probably come running.

Two bowls in Tampa and two bowls in Orlando make more sense than trying to do three bowls in Orlando. Plus there is the extra game issue with the new UCF stadium, which was mentioned above. The Big East is missing the boat if they don't pursue it.

Krocker Krapp Wrote:Step back from the dreams for a minute. The Big East isn't going to steal the Champs Bowl, or any other bowl, away from other BCS conferences.

What we need to do, and we now have a great chance to do this because of the Houston debacle, is start a second bowl in Tampa. I have been saying this for two years. Strike while the iron is hot. Houston has left an opening and it is time for the Big East to be proactive in something.

All we have to do is convince the Big 12 to forget about Houston and send their #8 team to Tampa to face the #4 team from the Big East. That is the same match-up they wanted to do in Houston anyway. Tampa is a better destination. Starting a game there is a no brainer bowl solution.

Birmingham? It is our #6 bowl and we would be stupid to say no. I personally, though, don't want to do much of anything with CUSA. No interest.

Krocker, thats not realistic, the big 12 has pushed hard down here to save the Houston bowl. Its a win win deal for them. Houston is a very important Big 12 market and they won't dump it for fla.

Just don't make any of them pre-christmas you are asking for poor travel numbers.

The facts are that there are too many Bowl games and allowing 6-6 teams to go is disgraceful. If Bowl think that a lot of fans of 6-6 teams are going to spend money to travel they are mistaken. Youll see those Bowls struggle to get 30,000. Why travel when your team is mediocre at best and probably got eligible only because of scheduling a couple of patsies when you can watch it on tv.
Very few 6-6 teams will bring large crowds.

A lot of attendance figures will depend more on how well the fan base for the bowl teams travel. A team with a loyal fan base that travels to the various locations, like WVU or Louisville, will give a bowl game a good attendance figure. Teams with fans who don't travel won't.

The problem will be that even WV or Louisville with 6-6 records will not travel in large numbers. No way that Ul or WV fans talking about BCS Bowls right now would show in large numbers to Birmingham or Toronto to see their 6-6 team play a CUSA or MAC school.

I agree that there are too many bowls, but it is what it is. The bowls aren't going away.

The bowls are far from perfect and there is tons of politics involved, but it's what the college presidents have chosen.

Quote:[quote="3601"]I agree that there are too many bowls, but it is what it is. The bowls aren't going away.

The bowls are far from perfect and there is tons of politics involved, but it's what the college presidents have chosen.

I have no problem with the current system except for the greedy, cowardly, hypocitical and monopolistic favoritism to a certain 6 conferences. It would be better to simply use BCS rankings irregardless of conference affiliation. If the "Big 6" conferences are really better, they should not be afraid of such a setup.

TopCoog Wrote:Krocker, thats not realistic, the big 12 has pushed hard down here to save the Houston bowl. Its a win win deal for them. Houston is a very important Big 12 market and they won't dump it for fla.

It was realistic until the Big 12 stabbed the Big East in the back and conspired with CUSA to save your precious Houston Bowl. Fine. Take your Houston Bowl and shove it up your Texas barbequed butts. I never wanted it anyway.

What we need to do now is get together with the Big Ten and start the Tampa Bowl. It can be Big East #4 vs. Big Ten #8. If the Big Ten #8 is ineligible some years, we can play the Sun Belt #2 or MAC #4/5 as the back up option.