Quote:It looked like game over Wednesday morning for the Heart of Dallas Bowl. Instead, a protracted fight over whether the city will give ESPN $300,000 to keep it at the Cotton Bowl for two more years has gone into overtime.

Mayor Mike Rawlings said that under normal circumstances, he believes the council would have overwhelmingly approved the incentives — a marked reduction from the $800,000 the council rejected back in March. But because of city guidelines concerning private-public economic development dollars, Wednesday's vote required approval from three-quarters of the 15-member council.

Before council kicked the vote to Sept. 12, four members of the council said they were going to vote against giving the network any money. Mayor Pro Tem Dwaine Caraway was absent.