press release from Sun Belt office:

Quote:Sun Belt Conference Enters Agreements with St. Petersburg Bowl, Papajohns.com Bowl, and PetroSun Independence Bowl

Written by: Sun Belt Conference
Release: 07/22/2008

NEW ORLEANS – The Sun Belt Conference announced Tuesday that it has signed agreements with the St. Petersburg Bowl, the Papajohns.com Bowl and the PetroSun Independence Bowl. The announcement came at the Sun Belt’s annual Football Media Days.

The agreements, which are effective immediately and will impact the 2008 and 2009 bowl games, call for bowl-eligible teams from the Sun Belt Conference to be the first available teams in these bowls should the contracted parties not be able to fulfill their requirements.

“This is an excellent opportunity for our football league for many reasons,” said Sun Belt Commissioner Wright Waters. “It will give our teams a chance to play in regional bowl games, show that we can compete with quality opponents and prove that this league can attract crowds to games and influence TV ratings.”

While the Sun Belt Conference champion will still play in the R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl, the St. Petersburg Bowl or the Papajohns.com Bowl will have second choice to select one of the Sun Belt’s bowl-eligible teams if the contracted parties are not be able to fulfill their requirements.

The St. Petersburg Bowl will play its inaugural game Dec. 20 at Tropicana Field and is scheduled to pit teams from the Big East and Conference USA. The 2008 Papajohns.com Bowl is scheduled to feature teams from the Big East and Southeastern Conference and will be played Dec. 29 at Legion Field in Birmingham, Ala. Both games are owned and operated by ESPN Regional Television, Inc., a subsidiary of ESPN.

“This agreement protects the future success of our events, to which ESPN Regional Television is very committed,” said Pete Derzis, Senior Vice President & General Manager, ERT. “We are taking this step to be able to present college football fans with two quality teams for our postseason bowl games.”

The agreement signed with the PetroSun Independence Bowl calls for that bowl game to receive the third choice to select one of the Sun Belt’s bowl eligible teams if the contracted parties are not able to fulfill their requirements. The Independence Bowl would also receive the second choice to select a Sun Belt bowl eligible team should the St. Petersburg Bowl or the Papajohns.com Bowl not have an opening. The game is scheduled to have a team from the Southeastern Conference and Big XII and will be played Dec. 28 at Independence Stadium in Shreveport, La.

"We feel good about partnering with the Sun Belt Conference as a contingency partner for the 2008 and 2009 games,” said PetroSun Independence Bowl Chairman Keith Bergeron. “Our primary agreements with both the Big 12 and SEC run through the 2009 game and year-in and year-out provide us with a great matchup. Now with 34 bowl games and nearly all conferences going anywhere from four to nine deep with bowl partners we felt it was necessary and good business to lock in a contingency plan in the unlikely event that we don't host a team from either the Big 12 or SEC. The Sun Belt and its member institutions offer a natural regional tie with Shreveport being within driving distance for fans of any Sun Belt school."

The agreements with the St. Petersburg Bowl, the Papajohns.com Bowl, and the PetroSun Independence Bowl are for two years, beginning with the 2008 bowl games. Should there be any ties in the Sun Belt standings, those three bowl games have the right to select the team of their choice.


About ESPN Regional Television

The nation’s largest syndicator of collegiate sports programming, ESPN Regional Television (ERT) annually produces more than 900 sporting events. Programming includes football, basketball, NCAA events, golf and NHRA events accounting for more than 2,200 live and/or original hours of programming. In addition to event ownership, ERT is the production headquarters for ESPNU, the 24-hour college sports network; syndication rights-holder and producer of national, regional and local shows for college conferences (e.g. – BIG EAST, Big 12, Mid-American, Sun Belt, WAC).

ESPN Regional Television markets and/or owns several other sporting events, including collegiate football events: the St. Petersburg Bowl; the Papajohns.com Bowl; the Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl; the Sheraton Hawai’i Bowl; the Pioneer Las Vegas Bowl, the New Mexico Bowl; the MEAC/SWAC Challenge; and The Home Depot College Football Awards; collegiate basketball events: the O’Reilly Auto Parts All-College Classic (Oklahoma City); the Old Spice Classic (Orlando, Fla.); the SEC/BIG EAST Invitational; the Anaheim Classic (Calif.); the O’Reilly Auto Parts Puerto Rico Tip-Off (San Juan); and the O’Reilly ESPNU BracketBusters; as well as the ESPN National Golf Challenge presented by Callaway. For more information, visit http://www.espnplus.com.

I think this is an excellent move for y'all. We all know the other conference aren't going to fill these slots on a regular basis, so y'all get more bowl opportunities. Gather some wins in those chances and soon the Sun Belt will have the first tie-in not the backup one.

good move for sunbelt.

Looks like at least one more bowl bid a year for ya'll. A lot more geographically friendly than Detroit or the Silicon Valley too. Good move.

Of course this is an excellent move for us. This would have gotten an 8-4 Troy team to a bowl last year. Unfortunately Wright Waters is such a worthless fat ass douche that it took an 8-4 Troy team sitting home during the bowls for him to actually do anything at all.

So he basically did the least he could do and not get bowl "tie-ins" but bowl "agreements". Pathetic.