Brett McMurphy says a proposed bowl game to be played at St. Petersburg’s Tropicana Field starting this season will be submitted to the NCAA’s bowl certifying board.
The game would showcase teams from the Big East Conference and Conference USA, and would be played on Sunday, Dec. 21. ESPN is behind the drive, and would broadcast the game (probably on ESPN2).
The Big East has eight football teams, and currently sends at least one team to the BCS series to play for the championship. The next best team plays in either the Konica Gator Bowl or Brut Sun Bowl. Other Big East teams will go to the Meineke Car Care Bowl, then the Texas Bowl. The Big East also gets berths in the International Bowl in Toronto, and the PapaJohn’s.com Bowl in Birmingham. In the PapaJohn’s.com Bowl, the BIG EAST plays a team from Conference USA.
Conference USA has 12 football schools, and has bowl tie-ins with the AutoZone Liberty Bowl, GMAC Bowl, Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl, Papajohns.com Bowl, R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl, Sheraton Hawai’i Bowl and Texas Bowl.
So the matchup would be the Big East’s 2nd worst team (think Syracuse) vs. someone in CUSA’s bottom third (think UTEP). Who would watch this?
Good grief, does everyone get a bowl game now?
Reality Czech
1 year ago
Syracuse vs. UTEP – In a dome in Florida in December…can’t wait!!!!
worried
1 year ago
just curious — cause I don’t know where I’m gonna get another loan for next year — how low would tuition be without division 1 teams?
Jeff
1 year ago
4/1? Shenanigans.
Reality Czech
1 year ago
worried – very little if any.
Majority of athletic funding comes from boosters, alum, endorsement contracts, and various other private sources (ticket sales, ESPN, etc.)
Though schools do expend funds for football andother athletics, it is only a fraction of their budgets and probably would not affect tuition.
Besides, if you’re at a Florida school, tuition is dirt cheap anyway!
BJ
1 year ago
Yeah, but if you get WVU vs. Marshall….watch out! You’ll have the entire state of WV in Tampa partying like crazy!
Mike
1 year ago
Well, you figure if UCF & USF ever BOTH have a VERY down year sometime in the future (think 6-6 overall) at least they both have a bowl game to go to that will be 100% sold out.
That being said, the Big East & CUSA already have WAYYYYYYY too many bowl games already…. and don’t really have enough GOOD teams to fill them…..