Big East, Gator Bowl Renew Ties
By KEN DAVIS
Courant Staff Writer
July 15 2005
Just weeks after the Big East's agreement with the Gator Bowl appeared to be in jeopardy, the conference announced Thursday it has salvaged that relationship and formed a partnership that includes Notre Dame, the Big 12 Conference and the Sun Bowl.
The collaboration, unprecedented in Division I-A football, assures the two Bowl Championship Series conferences participation in the Toyota Gator Bowl and Vitalis Sun Bowl over a four-year period, beginning with the 2006 regular season.
After each conference's representative to the BCS has been determined, the Gator Bowl or Sun Bowl will have the first pick from the Big East's No. 2 team, Big 12's No. 3 or Notre Dame. Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese said plans for the selection rotation have not been finalized but it is likely one bowl will get the Big East in the first and third years, and the other bowl in the second and fourth.
Notre Dame, which remains a part of the Big East's bowl pool, will have the opportunity to play in each bowl once. The Atlantic Coast Conference will continue to provide the opponent in the Gator Bowl, and the Pac-10 Conference will do the same in the Sun Bowl.
"Making certain we had a good second spot in our bowl lineup was absolutely imperative," Tranghese said Thursday. "We wanted to play teams from the power conferences and with the ACC and Pac-10 obviously we've got that."
The Big East is entering the final year of its bowl agreements, which include the Gator Bowl, the Insight Bowl in Phoenix and Continental Tire Bowl in Charlotte, N.C. The Big East also has an agreement with the Motor City Bowl in Detroit if the Big Ten cannot fill its slot against the Mid-American Conference.
"We're close to making three more deals," Tranghese said. "I think we'll have it all done within the next two weeks."
Tranghese would not comment on negotiations with other bowls, but the Big East is expected to renew its agreement with the Continental Tire Bowl. In a move that would raise the conference's postseason visibility, a deal to play a Southeastern Conference team in the Liberty Bowl in Memphis, Tenn., is close to being finalized.
Possibilities for the final agreement include the Champs Sports Bowl in Orlando, Fla., the Music City Bowl in Nashville, the Motor City Bowl, and a new bowl in Toronto that is awaiting certification from the NCAA. The Big East and the Insight Bowl end an eight-year relationship after this season.
"Two years ago when the ACC took our three schools [Miami, Virginia Tech, Boston College], everybody was saying, `The league's going to go away. You're going to lose your BCS bid, you're not going to be on TV anymore and you're going to lose all your bowl games.' It was this doom and gloom scenario," Tranghese said. "I think what we've been able to do is get ourselves re-established."
This season, the Gator Bowl will be played Jan. 2 in Jacksonville, Fla., and the Sun Bowl Dec 30 in El Paso, Texas.
"Four years ago, [Gator Bowl president] Rick Catlett and I tried to make similar deals with other [conferences] and couldn't get anywhere," Tranghese said. "This year, I think Rick was getting a little push from his board [to remove the Big East], but I don't think Rick wanted us to go away."
Copyright 2005, Hartford Courant
Big East, Gator Bowl Renew Ties
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Liberty Bowl Close to a deal with SEC & BE
