Shreveport and Mobile have vital things that San Marcos and Little Rock lack.

Established grass roots support. The bars and restaurants have experience handling visiting team crowds, hotels are used to accommodating teams and the fans for an extended period. They have networks of local volunteers who help put on events for the players, the coaches wives during the week. Local businesses already built in that buy tickets and sponsorship's. Local media that has the whole thing down pat, the team arrival videos and stories, the fun night out event, the press conference, the obligatory practice shots, and as soon as the teams were announced the search of rosters for local ties and setting up interviews with a local guy's high school coach and playing day clips from their own high school coverage. One year AState had an ESPN3 hoops telecast the night before the Mobile Bowl, one of the bars downtown was promoting that they had the game on the big screen. In Mobile and Shreveport bars and restaurants scramble when the teams are announced to get participating team banners and have them up. They've learned from experience its a competitive edge.

In Mobile sat near some guys wearing Bama gear one year. Said they get tickets from their work every year and come out and if the weather is decent and the game is close they stay for the game and if not head home around halftime. Game was determined on the final play and they were still there.

No sense in moving either bowl and reinvent the wheel.

Both bowls struggle securing national sponsors and both easily out-do the typical ESPN Events game in local support, while ESPN's thing is getting national sponsors. Bring those games into the fold with a good local executive director and they could be the more lucrative G5 games because of the local/national support combo.