Big East vs. C-USA bowl may debut Dec. 21, 2008 in St. Pete
Posted March 26, 2008 by Brett McMurphy
Updated Mar 26, 2008 at 12:19 AM


For University of South Florida fans wanting to attend the Sun Bowl last December, Bulls fans had to travel halfway across the country.

This December, they may only have to travel a few dozen miles to St. Petersburg if a new proposed bowl game pitting the Big East against Conference USA is approved by the NCAA in late April.

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 by Tuesday.

“We have been exploring with a number of partners, the viability of launching a bowl game in St. Petersburg,” said Pete Derzis, senior vice president and general manager of ESPN Regional.

The game, to be televised on ESPN or ESPN2, would pit teams from the Big East Conference and Conference USA and is tentatively scheduled for Sunday night, Dec. 21, a Rays official said. If the Rays’ outdoor stadium is built — if approved, it would open in 2012 — the bowl would move there.

Conference USA commissioner Britton Banowsky and Big East associate commissioner John Paquette had no comment Tuesday night.

The bowl, which likely would be named the St. Petersburg Bowl if a corporate sponsor can not be obtained, would be the sixth bowl run and operated by ESPN. The network’s other bowls: Las Vegas, Hawaii, Armed Forces, Papajohns.com and New Mexico.

“We’re involved in a process which requires NCAA bowl committee certification before anything is official,” Derzis said. “We have a tentative plan in place and continue to work on that plan with a number of stakeholders in the market. St. Petersburg is extremely attractive and our potential conference partners have indicated a desire for a Florida experience.”

The St. Petersburg bowl would make the Tampa Bay area the fifth community to host two bowl games along with Orlando (Champs Sports, Capital One), New Orleans (New Orleans, Sugar); Phoenix/Glendale, Ariz. (Insight, Fiesta); and San Diego (Poinsettia, Holiday).

The Outback Bowl, played at Raymond James Stadium, has been held annually in Tampa since 1986.

Two years ago, Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese told the Tampa Tribune about an interest in starting a bowl game in St. Petersburg. However, it was expected it wouldn’t begin until the league’s current bowl agreements end after the 2009 season.

After the NCAA is presented with the proposed bowl game information for the St. Petersburg bowl, the NCAA’s bowl committee certification can approve the bowl by late April.

The addition of the St. Petersburg bowl would give the eight-team Big East seven bowls in 2008 along with the BCS, Gator/Sun, Meineke Car Care, Texas, International and Papajohns.com.

If approved, the St. Petersburg bowl will become the third collegiate bowl in the Tampa Bay area, joining the Outback Bowl and the defunct Cigar Bowl, held in Tampa from 1947 to 1954.

In other USF news: during Tuesday’s spring practice, FB Richard Kelly (hand), RB Ashton Samuels (shoulder) and RB Moises Plancher (elbow) all left with injuries.

DB Danny Verpaele was wearing a boot on his left foot, but Coach Jim Leavitt did not know the extent of the injury.

It would be nice to have a tie-in with a BCS league.

This is the Bowl game most of this board has been asking for. Now you do not like the opponent??

4 of your 7 will be "BCS" opponents.

I like it much better than the Congressional Bowl in DC! Good location yeah Florida!, warm weather bowl, hate that it would be inside for a few years but at night it does not matter I guess. At least a weekend date even if Sunday night. Thanks for the update....

Topcard91 Wrote:This is the Bowl game most of this board has been asking for. Now you do not like the opponent??

4 of your 7 will be "BCS" opponents.

And that's a fairly low ratio when compared to other BCS conferences

ACC = 7 of 8 (Boise Bowl vs. WAC)
Big 12 = 7.5 of 8 (when Texas Bowl is vs. C-USA)
Big Ten = 6 of 7 (Motor City Bowl vs. MAC)
SEC = 7 of 8 (Liberty Bowl vs. C-USA)
PAC-10 = 4 of 7 (LV Bowl vs. MWC, Pointsettia vs. MWC, part time tie-ins with Hawai'i and Armed Forces)

Its nothing against C-USA, but I'd prefer to play an SEC, Big 12 or Big Ten team in a bowl. The Big East plays up to two games vs. the ACC and possibly one vs. the PAC-10, but has none against the Big Ten, SEC or Big 12.

I can't see this bowl, or any other bowl for that matter, being certified unless a current bowl goes under or loses certification. The NCAA has made it pretty clear that they don't want to go past 32 bowls, and the postseason is pretty saturated as it is. How many teams that were eligible didn't make the postseason, anyways?

Strange how CUSA is talking to both the DC Bowl and the St Pete Bowl. Is it possible they are losing a bowl slot?

BullsFanatic Wrote:I can't see this bowl, or any other bowl for that matter, being certified unless a current bowl goes under or loses certification. The NCAA has made it pretty clear that they don't want to go past 32 bowls, and the postseason is pretty saturated as it is. How many teams that were eligible didn't make the postseason, anyways?

Strange how CUSA is talking to both the DC Bowl and the St Pete Bowl. Is it possible they are losing a bowl slot?

There's been some on-and-off talk that someone, either the MAC or C-USA, will lose their slot in the GMAC Bowl to the Sun Belt. The stadium where it is played will be the home of South Alabama football once its starts up in a few years.

I hope that means we would get the C-USA #2 team. I also hope that if C-USA or MAC lose the GMAC bowl, we can pick it up and lose the Papajohns.com Bowl. I think the GMAC offers a nicer location with more excitement. I wish we could take the Papajohns.com sponsorship to that bowl too. I like the idea of a nice place to travel for a bowl, ah sunny Florida.

army56mike Wrote:I hope that means we would get the C-USA #2 team. I also hope that if C-USA or MAC lose the GMAC bowl, we can pick it up and lose the Papajohns.com Bowl. I think the GMAC offers a nicer location with more excitement. I wish we could take the Papajohns.com sponsorship to that bowl too. I like the idea of a nice place to travel for a bowl, ah sunny Florida.

With all due respect, I would hope as a conference we can aim higher that the GMAC. I know Louisville fans enjoyed their trips there, but I'd prefer something that had some more prestige to it.

Topcard91 Wrote:This is the Bowl game most of this board has been asking for. Now you do not like the opponent??

4 of your 7 will be "BCS" opponents.

Topcard, I probably don’t speak for everyone, but I feel it’s more of a payout/profile issue, not so much an issue with the quality of the opponent. I consider it an issue when one of the ranked teams in a BCS league has to settle for a pre-Christmas bowl with a paltry payout. And, this Tampa Bowl sounds exactly like that, as well (given its Dec 21 date).

There are a couple exceptions, but bowl payout is generally dependent upon whether the participants are in a BCS or non-BCS league. Also, bowls before and after (except BCS bowls) Holiday break seem far down the ladder in payout and prestige. I believe that is what people on here ultimately complain about, not so much the opponent itself. Hell, I'd say three of the teams in C-USA (UCF, Tulsa, ECU) would give us a good game.

Given the date and participants, this bowl sounds like a duplicate of the Papa John. Anyone know how well that bowl is doing, and if it’ll stay around?

The BEast is always going to be considered 2nd tier as long as we have Mickey Mouse leading us through Disneyland.

BullsFanatic Wrote:I can't see this bowl, or any other bowl for that matter, being certified unless a current bowl goes under or loses certification. The NCAA has made it pretty clear that they don't want to go past 32 bowls, and the postseason is pretty saturated as it is. How many teams that were eligible didn't make the postseason, anyways?

Strange how CUSA is talking to both the DC Bowl and the St Pete Bowl. Is it possible they are losing a bowl slot?

There have been some rumors that the New Orleans Bowl might go under. It pits the 1st place SBC team against the 6th place CUSA team. The last couple years the attendence has been very bad, and they are losing money.

The Sun Belt can't draw more than 15,000 for home games, much less a bowl. Last year Memphis was in, but they had a BB game against Georgetown the following day that Memphis fans were much more interested in. The year before that we sent Rice, who typically has the lowest attendence average of the conference.

So if this happens, and you guys have a tie in, you'll have 7 bowls right? For 8 teams? Doesn't that seem a bit much? What are the chances that every year 7 of 8 Big East teams will become bowl eligible?

CyberBull Wrote:Big East vs. C-USA bowl may debut Dec. 21, 2008 in St. Pete
Posted March 26, 2008 by Brett McMurphy
Updated Mar 26, 2008 at 12:19 AM


For University of South Florida fans wanting to attend the Sun Bowl last December, Bulls fans had to travel halfway across the country.

This December, they may only have to travel a few dozen miles to St. Petersburg if a new proposed bowl game pitting the Big East against Conference USA is approved by the NCAA in late April...

By the way, call me crazy, but I highly doubt USF would forgo the Sun Bowl for the St. Pete Bowl. I definitely think USF would rather go to the Sun over the Papa John

While y'all argue over who's going to go to what 2nd tier bowl game, WVU will be gearing up for another BCS game.

I havent' heard anything about the papajohn or toronto going anywhere. Both increased ticket sales, attendance and tv ratings last year. Also, interesting no mention of the academies being involved.

Tebixan Wrote:

BullsFanatic Wrote:I can't see this bowl, or any other bowl for that matter, being certified unless a current bowl goes under or loses certification. The NCAA has made it pretty clear that they don't want to go past 32 bowls, and the postseason is pretty saturated as it is. How many teams that were eligible didn't make the postseason, anyways?

Strange how CUSA is talking to both the DC Bowl and the St Pete Bowl. Is it possible they are losing a bowl slot?

So if this happens, and you guys have a tie in, you'll have 7 bowls right? For 8 teams? Doesn't that seem a bit much? What are the chances that every year 7 of 8 Big East teams will become bowl eligible?

There is the Notre Dame factor too; they can take a bowl from the Big East any given year.

Jose_Jalapeno_on_a_Stick Wrote:

Topcard91 Wrote:This is the Bowl game most of this board has been asking for. Now you do not like the opponent??

4 of your 7 will be "BCS" opponents.

Topcard, I probably don’t speak for everyone, but I feel it’s more of a payout/profile issue, not so much an issue with the quality of the opponent. I consider it an issue when one of the ranked teams in a BCS league has to settle for a pre-Christmas bowl with a paltry payout. And, this Tampa Bowl sounds exactly like that, as well (given its Dec 21 date).

This game has the exact same potential as the old Blockbuster/Carquest/Micron PC/Tangerine Bowl that is now the Champs Sports Bowl Game that enjoys a POST-CHRISTMAS date and a $2.25 Million payout per team.

In 2003...the "Tangerine Bowl" only had a payout of $750,000.

In 2004...Champs Sports was brought on as the top sponsor...pay jumped up to $850,000...and 3 years ago...the date was moved past Christmas Day (on Dec 29, Dec 27, and Dec 28) and now the payout is a nice $2.25 Million per team.

If UCF (and/or ECU) ever end up joining the Big East in Football...I can see this bowl dropping CUSA and picking up ACC (as the ACC desperately tries to get of their terrible bowl agreements in San Fran and IDAHO and replace them with more bowl games in the Southeast)..and moving to a post-Christmas date in the future...and also enjoy a much higher payout in future years (hard to offer a high payout without a title sponsor and zero game track record).

This is retarded thinking at its finest. Since the Big East already plays CUSA in Birmingham, we do not need another bowl against the same league. That is ridiculous as far as match-ups go.

It would be much better for the Big East to face Navy, Army, Notre Dame when they miss the BCS, or any leftover if necessary in St. Petersburg while the ACC plays CUSA in Washington DC.

The PAC plays three bowls against NonBCS conferences, Vegas vs MWC, Poinsettia vs MWC, and Hawaii vs WAC. The other four (Rose, Holiday, Sun, and Emerald) are against BCS.

Yes, CUSA is a NonBCS conference. But we got the Liberty vs SEC and we are part of Houston Bowl vs Big 12. Our attendance has been good in those two bowls. And CUSA is being considered for Congressional along with ACC....so CUSA is hanging in there with ACC.

My guess, in the long run, is that the St. Pete Bowl turns into something like the Champs Bowl (as a poster noted above). For CUSA in the longer run, we need a bowl on the UCF campus in their beautiful stadium. Both the St. Pete Bowl and a UCF/Orlando Bowl would both grow into something very good.

SBC Commissioner announced last season that SBC would pick up a second bowl (with Western Kentucky joining) and it would come from an established bowl. It almost has to be the GMAC Mobile Bowl, home of U South Alabama which is going to establish a IA football program and is already in SBC for olympic sports. My guess is MAC goes from Mobile Bowl to New Orleans to replace CUSA.

PAC left Ft. Worth for Poinsettia Bowl in San Diego and I am hopeful CUSA picks up Ft. Worth Bowl on a full time basis.

It wouldn't surprise me to see CUSA involved with the Congressional Bowl on some sort of rotating basis. I don't think the Congressional Bowl wants to sign with just one conference and then not have a team available from that conference. Congressional Bowl would like to have Navy, Army, and Air Force as a "host" team. I think both ACC and CUSA will be both involved as it might be the service academies will not have a bowl elgible team availble, but the Congressional Bowl could still do a ACC vs CUSA matchup.

CUSA lost the Hawaii Bowl, a fun place but so, so, so far away. The bowls are a reward for the fans also and CUSA fans couldn't travel to Hawai.

But CUSA has now picked up the St. Pete Bowl, probably the Ft. Worth Bowl on a full time basis, and maybe be a part of Congressional. For us CUSA fans, this is encouraging. Hopefully, we will put better football teams on the field and make a better game of it for our bowl opponents.

BE added three CUSA teams and USF, Cincy, and UL are doing very well for BE. For the existing CUSA teams, if we can get some good bowls which we now have and improve our tv contract and get more tv exposure, we can establish ourselves to be a worthy conference....a worthy conference that no BCS team should take for granted in a bowl game.

wvucrazed Wrote:It would be nice to have a tie-in with a BCS league.

to be honest.. I am surprised the ACC isnt all over this one. But a Fla bowl for CUSA would be great. With UCF and USF both less than 2 hours away may be part of it. There has been talk that CUSA is going to get more regional in sending its teams.. Champ to liberty then send east schools to east bowls as much as possible and west to west bowls..I would expect mobile to keep 2nd pick, but I would prefer to see east pecking order where the 2nd choice from east after mobile goes to fla. and work out a simular deal in the west. tex plus nawlins picks from west and maybe nawlins USM.