Quote:GMAC Bowl Announces Date Change
8th Annual Game Moves to Sunday Night, January 7
GMAC Bowl
July 14, 2006
Bowl Officials announced today that this year's 8th Annual GMAC Bowl has been rescheduled for Sunday, January 7, 2007 beginning at 8 p.m. EST at Ladd=Peebles Stadium. The GMAC Bowl will be shown nationally on ESPN and will feature teams from Conference USA versus the Mid American Conference or the Western Athletic Conference.
From 1999-2005, the GMAC Bowl was played on the Wednesday or Thursday prior to Christmas. The new date will provide an increased opportunity to showcase Mobile and the GMAC Bowl to the Nation.
GMAC Bowl President Jerry Silverstein said "To play in prime time the night before the BCS National Championship Game offers the City of Mobile, and the GMAC Bowl unbelievable exposure. The new date presented an opportunity that we could not afford to pass up".
GMAC Financial Services has been a sponsor of the bowl game since its inception in 1999. During that time, GMAC has used its title sponsorship to develop a year-long college football marketing campaign reaching dozens of college campuses and thousands of students and customers interested in its financial services products.
"We are excited about the move to a January date on the college football post-season schedule," said GMAC President Bill Muir. "Our seven-year association with the GMAC Bowl has been extended through 2010 and it will continue to serve as a key component of our overall marketing strategy and community outreach activities."
Conference USA Commissioner Britton Banowsky
"The GMAC Bowl and Conference USA have partnered for 8 years, and both have seen exceptional growth in that span. This move will only enhance our partnership with the GMAC Bowl and should provide a unique Bowl experience, and ample time for our Conference teams, students and fans to travel to Mobile".
Dave Brown, ESPN Vice President, Programming & Acquisitions
"We appreciate GMAC, the City of Mobile, and the GMAC Bowl working with ESPN to move the game to January 7. On the eve of the national championship game, we think this move will provide tremendous exposure for the GMAC Bowl, GMAC, the City of Mobile, and the participating conferences."
Mid American Conference Commissioner Rick Chryst
"This move puts the GMAC Bowl in a unique and exciting position on the college bowl calendar for the upcoming season. The new date will allow for maximum travel planning and preparation for all the fans that will look to experience the great hospitality of Mobile, as well as provide an exceptional television platform for two outstanding teams.
For more information on the GMAC Bowl visit http://www.gmacbowl.com.
remember back in the good ole days when all the great bowls were on new years day, then it changed to all the elite bowls were in january, not necessarily new years day...
now the gmac bowl is in january, i just think this is a bad trend
maybe the GMAC bowl is now being considered as a big time bowl!!!! hahaah jk....UAB GMAC bowl champions!!! we cud say we played in a bowl game in january!!
This is one of the worst moves ever. If Januayr 7 is after the national championship game, nobody will be interested. The college football season will be over. If it is not after the national championship game, it is still a mistake because all of the bigger schools will be playing and the interest will be on them.
The only reason the GMAC and other such bowls had any interest was because they were among the first played and everyone tuned in because they were excited about the bowl season started.
"Dave Brown, ESPN Vice President, Programming & Acquisitions
"We appreciate GMAC, the City of Mobile, and the GMAC Bowl working with ESPN to move the game to January 7. On the eve of the national championship game, we think this move will provide tremendous exposure for the GMAC Bowl, GMAC, the City of Mobile, and the participating conferences."
It looks to me like ESPN made the decision. It is going to add to the "We have too many bowls" argument. I suppose that they wanted some time to pass between the B'ham Bowl and the GMAC.
Memphis Blazer Wrote:This is one of the worst moves ever. If Januayr 7 is after the national championship game, nobody will be interested. The college football season will be over. If it is not after the national championship game, it is still a mistake because all of the bigger schools will be playing and the interest will be on them.
The only reason the GMAC and other such bowls had any interest was because they were among the first played and everyone tuned in because they were excited about the bowl season started.
actually, the national championship bowl will be on january 8 this year, but i completely agree w/ the rest of your take.
the inernational bowl (b/t the MAC and BigEast #4 or 5 will be on the 6th...another stupid move)
This is a GREAT move.
Smartest move ever by the GMAC bowl.
Great for C-USA and for the MAC.
And good for college football.
Better exposure than they EVER could have gotten.
Only game on that night. Great appetizer for the big game the next day.
you guys are way too worryworts about this.
It will work out great for all. MOre time to sell tickets, more time for fans of those schools to arrange travel arrangements, more time to regroup between C-USA championship game and the bowl. Before, the GMAC Bowl was worried about getting the C-USA runner-up, worried that those fans would be down after a loss in which they may have had to travel. Now, there is a significant break, giving those fans time to get excited again.
It also gives Mobile sigificantly more time to market the matchup to the locals.
the only reason i watch all of the early bowl games is cause they each get bigger and better...its a natural progression. who in the world is going to want to go from the rose/fiesta/orange, etc, to the gmac?
despite the fact that im a c-usa fan, i seriously doubt i'll have much interest in watching the game in this slot (unless of course uab is in it, in which case i'll be there)...im pretty sure a lot of people will agree with me
LairDweller Wrote:the only reason i watch all of the early bowl games is cause they each get bigger and better...its a natural progression. who in the world is going to want to go from the rose/fiesta/orange, etc, to the gmac?
despite the fact that im a c-usa fan, i seriously doubt i'll have much interest in watching the game in this slot (unless of course uab is in it, in which case i'll be there)...im pretty sure a lot of people will agree with me
Um, anybody who wants to watch another football game, of which there will be precious few left until Sept. 2007?
Your TV choices on that night are going to be, let's see, the GMAC bowl, maybe a college bball game or two, perhaps some pay-per-view NBA or NHL and a whole bunch of bad-singing-bad-dancing-backstabbing-roommates-celebrity-D-list-reality shows.
I think I'll tune in to the GMAC Bowl.
Bets right now this will be ESPN/ESPN2's highest rated bowl game -- BY FAR (though if it's up against the Sopranos series finale, I will change my mind) ;-)
Explain to me again how college football can't have a playoff. That argument that it takes too much classroom time away is getting weaker and weaker. Before when all the bowl games ran from December to a couple of days following New Years day, school was out and it did not interfere too much with attending classes.
As more and more bowls move to the second week of January, the Spring semester has started and now two semesters are affected by the football season.
The next move will be to push the bowl games back even further until there will be college football games played after the Super Bowl.
It's out of control.
Memphis Blazer Wrote:Explain to me again how college football can't have a playoff. That argument that it takes too much classroom time away is getting weaker and weaker. Before when all the bowl games ran from December to a couple of days following New Years day, school was out and it did not interfere too much with attending classes.
As more and more bowls move to the second week of January, the Spring semester has started and now two semesters are affected by the football season.
The next move will be to push the bowl games back even further until there will be college football games played after the Super Bowl.
It's out of control.
It is not that they
can't have a playoff. It is that they
won't. "Too much classroom time away" is the
excuse. Keeping control of the money within the BCS is the
reason.
MAN4UAB Wrote:Memphis Blazer Wrote:Explain to me again how college football can't have a playoff. That argument that it takes too much classroom time away is getting weaker and weaker. Before when all the bowl games ran from December to a couple of days following New Years day, school was out and it did not interfere too much with attending classes.
As more and more bowls move to the second week of January, the Spring semester has started and now two semesters are affected by the football season.
The next move will be to push the bowl games back even further until there will be college football games played after the Super Bowl.
It's out of control.
It is not that they can't have a playoff. It is that they won't. "Too much classroom time away" is the excuse. Keeping control of the money within the BCS is the reason.
+1
My first reaction was "is this in reaction to the Birmingham bowl?" Mobile's bowl has been successful, but was earlier on in the bowl season than the Birmingham bowl. It may just be me, but I see this as an attempt to "one-up" Birmingham. No matter the reasons behind it, I dont like it.
UAB does not need to play in that bowl. People are going to argue that there are too many bowls. IF UAB plays in that bowl, then it will be more bad pub because not only are there too many bowls, but even UAB got into a bowl therefore there are too many bowls.
Several thoughts:
1) I wish all the important games went back to New Years Day. I loved three TV's in the living room and trying to keep up. It was great!
2) sandwiched between BCS bowls is like ugly chick sitting between two hot girls, you only look because she was between desirable ends.
3) as far as ticket sales, you think a few people might have used up their off time at, oh I dont know, Christmas and the Holidays? What happened to a bowl being at at time when you could actually take time off for it?
Not many going to postpone those holiday plans for an early january trip to a medium grade bowl game.
I get what they are trying to do...but I just dont think it is wise or convenient for fans.
Well, it's a helluva lot more makeable than the Hawaii Bowl.
For what that's worth.
gosh, you guys are nattering nabobs of negativity! ;-)
There is NOTHING bad about this!
It's a great move by Mobile and it will be good for the players, the schools, the fans, the city, the conference and the network.
And for the record, most people start a NEW calendar in January. Which means the are more likely to have off time in January than the week before Christmas.
Flying Mouse Wrote:gosh, you guys are nattering nabobs of negativity! ;-)
There is NOTHING bad about this!
It's a great move by Mobile and it will be good for the players, the schools, the fans, the city, the conference and the network.
And for the record, most people start a NEW calendar in January. Which means the are more likely to have off time in January than the week before Christmas.
Unless you're a student... school will have already started back by then so students would have to miss class if they wanted to go. Now to some of you, that might not sound so bad if they would have to miss a day or two of class, but at the start of the semester it is very significant. A number of classes drop you from the class if you're not there for the first class meeting. Besides...noone in the country will look at this as a bigger bowl even if it is that late in the bowl season. It's still CUSA vs. MAC and not even likely to be the top team out of CUSA.