Sorry, I am not shedding any tears for Rick Catlett. He bashed us in early December of 2005 about our ticket sales and we was already around 10K. Now with this deal with the BIG XII biting him in the @$$ I say it could not happen to a nicer Bowl Director.

I just wonder if Mr. Catlett will go to the Jacksonville media and bash TT or UVA about their lack of ticket sales as compared to Louisville. I kind of doubt it, BTW Michael Savage Louisville had roughly around 25K @ the 2005 Gator Bowl. VPI had around 17K which is still very good but on that day Louisville won the attendence battle.

Screw the Gator Bowl in any new negotiations.

The gator Bowl is learning the hard way that the Big12 deal is NOT as good as they thought it would be. They bad mouthed the Big East and thought they could do better. Well im sure they wil be singing a different tune next time around. If they had kept the ACC-BE match up, they would probably have easily 15-20k USF fans instead of the 4-5k Texas Tech fans. That stadium would be close to a sell out.

Jacksonville is rapidly becoming a football non-entity.

Cubanbull Wrote:The gator Bowl is learning the hard way that the Big12 deal is NOT as good as they thought it would be. They bad mouthed the Big East and thought they could do better. Well im sure they wil be singing a different tune next time around. If they had kept the ACC-BE match up, they would probably have easily 15-20k USF fans instead of the 4-5k Texas Tech fans. That stadium would be close to a sell out.

They would have also had a huge of Cincinnati fans since Cincinnati is only a few hours from Florida. It's a nothing trip to Florida from Cincinnati. And didn't the ACC drop the Gator Bowl in its Bowl arrangement to #3 behind the Peach Bowl? Catlett and the Gator Bowl were in such a hurry to try and screw over the Big East that they screwed themselves over. And then ND running off and cutting a deal with the Cotton Bowl. Now the Big East is their best bowl partner and they were better offer remaining our exclusive #2 bowl. We're even more valuable to them then Notre Dame, and really don't need Notre Dame to make the Gator Bowl a success. The Gator Bowl would be better off circling the wagons and becoming our strongest ally instead of sniffing around.

A straight shot down I-75.

bitcruncher Wrote:A straight shot down I-75.

Exactly! Between that and South Florida, which makes us the best geographical options for the Gator Bowl, and Louisville, West Virginia and Rutgers, who have a powerful traveling fan base, and Connecticut who is also showing themselves to be a very strong traveling fan base, we're the Gator Bowls strongest partner. And that's not even counting Pitt, who is in the same boat as Cincinnati as being a team that will bring fans to a New Year's Bowl, but has a billion times more tradition then Cincinnati with national championships, and Syracuse, a strong national name and a national championship tradition.

I don't know why the Gator Bowl is so anti-BEast. WVU fans have spent a ton of money down there. Those have been some of their most profitable bowl games.

bitcruncher Wrote:A straight shot down I-75.

Actually to get from Cincy to Jacksonville you'd only take I-75 to Knoxville and then start heading East toward the coast. Still an easy drive and I have no doubt if we ever get picked for the Gator Bowl we'll represent well as long as our AD Thomas and Coach Kelly are still here.

RealDeal Wrote:

bitcruncher Wrote:A straight shot down I-75.

Actually to get from Cincy to Jacksonville you'd only take I-75 to Knoxville and then start heading East toward the coast. Still an easy drive and I have no doubt if we ever get picked for the Gator Bowl we'll represent well as long as our AD Thomas and Coach Kelly are still here.

Why wouldn't they be here? Brian and Mike Thomas has done a great job building up UC, but we still need to wash away some of this inferiority complex that has infested Cincinnati for years.

bitcruncher Wrote:I don't know why the Gator Bowl is so anti-BEast. WVU fans have spent a ton of money down there. Those have been some of their most profitable bowl games.

They are trying to justify picking ND over any available BE team by calling out attention to prove their point that BE team don’t travel to bowl game so Gator bowl is justified in picking ND as many times they want over any BE team. It would be good if they return to the original contract where they pick ND only once every 4 years.

CatsClaw Wrote:Why wouldn't they be here? Brian and Mike Thomas has done a great job building up UC, but we still need to wash away some of this inferiority complex that has infested Cincinnati for years.

I was not insinuating that they wouldn't be. I expect both men to be here for a long time. The only reason I said if is because we may not get picked for the Gator Bowl for a while. I know we're going to be good for a while but unless you finish exactly 2nd in the conference in any given year you wouldn't be going to the Gator Bowl. I said attendance is tied to these two men because they both understand what it takes to get the alumni and fans excited enough to make trips to bowl games.

This isn't an indictment of you RealDeal, and there is always a chance that a coach or AD could leave. But Cincinnati fans, more then any other group of Big East fans, tend to have this mindset of not IF they leave it's WHEN they leave. And, in order to make it to the next level as a fanbase we should demand excellence and expect big things. We should expect to keep our coach unless one of the most elite jobs become available.

Hundreds from the Texas Tech community - the least of which are football players - are bowl-bound. And getting there isn't cheap.

"It's a big production," said Bobby Gleason, the university's deputy athletic director.



Texas Tech receiver Kelly Hildebrandt, standing, quarterback Graham Harrell, seated right, and receiver Mike Crabtree, seated to Harrell's right, along with their teammates ride a bus to Lubbock Preston Smith International Airport on Wednesday to board a flight to Jacksonville, Fla. Jim Watkins / Lubbock Avalanche JournalSome 450 members of the Texas Tech Goin' Band are traveling by bus to Jacksonville, Fla., where Tech's football team will play Virginia in the Gator Bowl on New Year's Day.





Buses departed today from Lubbock, Dallas, Houston and San Antonio.

All 120 football players arrived Wednesday in Jacksonville. The players, 13 cheerleaders and a crew of coaches, doctors and assistants went via two jets, chartered for about $160,000 from Southwest Airlines, according to athletics officials.

"Everybody sees the outside (of going to the bowl): You board a plane. (But) there are so many little logistics," said Chris Cook, a spokesman for Tech's athletics department.

Teams who compete in the Gator Bowl must purchase 12,750 tickets, and the conference is guaranteed a $2.5 million payout, president of the Gator Bowl Association Rick Catlett said.

Tech has a bowl budget of about $1.1 million, according to athletics officials.

But expenses are many and varied, Gleason said.

"Our goal," he said, "is to break even, but it will be very challenging."

Both teams had to arrive in Jacksonville by Wednesday, almost a week before the game. Food and lodging expenses add up quickly, Gleason said.


Texas Tech cheerleader Ivy Walker holds her spirit squad bag, packed and ready to go to the Gator Bowl.Jim Watkins / Lubbock Avalanche JournalTech fans have purchased about 4,500 of nearly 13,000 tickets available through the university, Gleason said.


But more than 6,000 tickets had to have been purchased for Tech to receive direct proceeds from ticket sales; if the mark would have been met, the university would have received 50 cents on every dollar generated from ticket sales thereafter, Gleason said.

Exact expenses of the bowl should be calculated by January, he said.

Red Raider fans are aware of the costs of bowl games, to their own pockets and the university's, Tech officials said.

They also expect a big show.

"Everyone knows there is a lot of pageantry with a ball game, especially one of this magnitude," said Stephanie Rhode, head of Tech's spirit activities. "Our mascots and band play a huge part in the pageantry ... and can really provide tremendous support for the team."

http://www.redraiders.com/stories/122707...7004.shtml

It is just utter nonsense that Texas Tech (424 miles from El Paso) was selected for the Gator, and USF (224 miles from Jacksonville), the Sun. Although the Sun apparently doesn't care about travelling numbers, seems that both bowls would have benefitted in a swap.

You can blame the gator for hat one. They were hoping to snag a Texas, Oklahoma or Nebraska

Cubanbull Wrote:You can blame the gator for hat one. They were hoping to snag a Texas, Oklahoma or Nebraska

And they could have had Texas. This is the order for the Big 12 when the Gator is in play, I believe, because the Big 12 order is done based on payout and the Alamo's spot in the order shifts whether its the Sun or Gator:

BCS
Cotton
Gator
Holiday
Alamo
Insight
Independence
Texas

When the Sun is part of the lineup

BCS
Cotton
Holiday
Alamo
Sun
Insight
Independence
Texas

mattsarz Wrote:

Cubanbull Wrote:You can blame the gator for hat one. They were hoping to snag a Texas, Oklahoma or Nebraska

And they could have had Texas. This is the order for the Big 12 when the Gator is in play, I believe, because the Big 12 order is done based on payout and the Alamo's spot in the order shifts whether its the Sun or Gator:

BCS
Cotton
Gator
Holiday
Alamo
Insight
Independence
Texas

When the Sun is part of the lineup

BCS
Cotton
Holiday
Alamo
Sun
Insight
Independence
Texas

Many times its not "clear cut" on which conference team goes where.

Conferences today and yes, even SCHOOL PREFERENCE, play a lot in bowl selections...and many bowls are "advised" by the conference to select "such and such a team", regardless of their bowl order.

Manybe the Big 12 realizes that they probably won't have the Gator Bowl slot after this contract is renewed...so why help out that bowl?

Higher payouts can easily get "eaten up" by traveling costs (some schools have much larger official travel parties then others), plus other factors in choice like alumni/fan base living near bowl city, recruiting area, etc...all come into play...especially when dealing with the "big boys".

The reality is that in most years the Big12 will have two teams in BCS Bowls so even with that arrangement the Gator will have the 5th choice. The gator chooses AFTER the Holiday Bowl thats why they couldnt choose Texas this year. The only bowl they can jump is the Alamo

mattsarz Wrote:

Cubanbull Wrote:You can blame the gator for hat one. They were hoping to snag a Texas, Oklahoma or Nebraska

And they could have had Texas. This is the order for the Big 12 when the Gator is in play, I believe, because the Big 12 order is done based on payout and the Alamo's spot in the order shifts whether its the Sun or Gator:

BCS
Cotton
Gator
Holiday
Alamo
Insight
Independence
Texas

When the Sun is part of the lineup

BCS
Cotton
Holiday
Alamo
Sun
Insight
Independence
Texas

Hail Matt!

I believe the Holiday has consistently paid out more than the Gator, although last year (when the Gator first increased it) was the first they were within $200K of the Holiday. Prior to last year the difference was usually between $500K and $1 million.

Here is the link showing the proceeds for the non-BCS Bowls from 2002-2006 seasons.

http://www1.ncaa.org/membership/postseas...v_dist.pdf

Cheers,
Neil