(05-23-2017 10:35 AM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(05-23-2017 09:54 AM)Attackcoog Wrote:  

(05-23-2017 07:49 AM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(04-22-2017 06:17 PM)BullsFanInTX Wrote:  

(04-21-2017 08:19 PM)johnintx Wrote:  That would make four bowls in the DFW Metroplex, plus the FCS championship game:
Cotton - Arlington
Armed Forces - Fort Worth
Heart of Dallas - Dallas
Bowl Formerly Known as Miami Beach - Frisco

DFW isn't a bad location-I spent 14 years there. Centrally located (especially for these schools), easily accessible airport, great recruiting. The weather in December can be iffy, as it might be 60 degrees on game day, or there may be an ice storm. You don't go there for the weather.

Frisco turned from a small town to a suburb overnight, as it tends to happen in North Texas. It grew from a population of 6,000 in 1990 to 33,000 in 2000 to 160,000 today. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frisco,_Texas There are plenty of hotels and restaurants. The Rangers' AA farm club plays in a great ballpark next to the Dallas Stars practice facility. In addition, the Cowboys just opened their new practice facility there, The Star, complete with indoor stadium used by high schools. Frisco is not on the list of Top 10 vacation destinations, but it's fine for a lower-level bowl.

The FCS championship has done well there, especially when NDSU is in it with its horde of traveling fans. Toyota Stadium is fine for what this is. If ESPN wants to put on this game, and it's not going to be in Miami, why not Frisco? There are worse places.

Actually the average high for Dallas in December is about 60. (Actually 58). So it's just as likely to be 80 as it is to have an ice storm. There are only one or 2 freezing precipitation events per year so the chances of it happening on bowl day are very small...maybe a 1-2 percent chance or less. I have lived in North Texas before and have spent 20 years studying Texas weather patterns and most bowl games you'll be looking at a range of 48 or 50 on the low side to the 70s on a mild day. Being in the 30s in the middle of the day would be rare. Not unheard of but rare.

I think the point was, the weather in Dallas around New Year's is unpredictable. Volatile. It can be anywhere from 80 to 40, sunny or ice storm. So you don't go their for the weather.

As for the city, Greater Dallas is obviously a major metropolis and despite its sprawling nature there's no chance of getting bored there on a 5-day bowl trip. Plenty to do in all aspects of life with a big dollop of Texas culture.

The thing is, at that time of year, it's inferior to Miami, which has warm weather you can set your watch by, and the kind of tropical/beach entertainment people generally look for in winter. So in terms of location, it's inferior, no matter how many schools are close enough to drive there.

Besides, IMO, a bowl is supposed to be a "destination", someplace far away and exotic you have to fly to, that's part of what makes it fun for the students and alumni. It's not really a "reward" if it's around the corner. E.g., for most of the Big East/AAC, the St. Pete Bowl, despite the lousy stadium, was/is a fantastic destination because you get to go to sunny Florida when it's freezing up north. But for USF or UCF, it's like not going to a bowl at all.

So I hope that, counterintuitively, it's the USF's and UConn's that get sent to it, not the SMU's and Houston's.

Doesn't matter. Sure, ideally you want warmer weather and a great destination city---but this is a bottom level bowl that likely pits a pair of 6-6 G5 teams against one another. For those kind of bowls to be successful---it needs to be a cheap trip that's drivable for at least one (or preferably both) fan bases. You saw what can happen last year at Miami Beach when two small fan base teams were invited to a bowl over a thousand miles away. It looked like the crowd approached several dozen.

If at least one school is close enough for an easy drive, a 20K stadium will end up looking pretty full when you add in the local walk up crowd. If both schools are an easy drive away, the bowl is a quick sell out.

Fair points, I'll cop to being too idealistic about this bottom-feeder bowl. We need a local anchor, unless by chance the Sun Belt team being invited happens to be close to Dallas (are any? maybe Texas State?), in which case we could send a far-flung AAC school because the SB school would be the local anchor to boost attendance, even though it's "our" bowl.

But absent that, yeah, we have to send an SMU or Tulsa, etc.

Texas State is not that close to Frisco Bowl, unless you consider 250 miles south close by. Actually, Texas State's 30K Bobcat stadium would be ideal for this bowl. Halfway between Austin and San Antonio, and an even greater chance of excellent weather every year, due to being in south central Texas.