I got this off of the Cincy board :
Big Ten may juggle its bowl lineup
Thursday, June 16, 2005
Ken Gordon
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
If Big Ten officials get their way, by the 2006 season the conference’s football teams may end up with a fourth New Year’s Day bowl game and another $2 million to divide.
All six of the league’s contracts with non-Bowl Championship Series bowls expire after this season, and commissioner Jim Delany is working hard to reshuffle alliances.
It’s all very hush-hush. Athletics directors and coaches discussed the topic at a meeting in May in Chicago.
"Yes, there are some things happening," OSU athletics director Gene Smith said. "But it’s confidential at this point in time."
A conference spokesman said only that nothing has been finalized.
But from talking to various bowl executives, some of whom did not want to be quoted, here are some of the possibilities:
• The Gator Bowl cuts its ties with the weakened Big East Conference and matches a Big Ten team against an Atlantic Coast Conference opponent on New Year’s Day.
• The Big Ten signs a deal with the Phoenix-based Insight Bowl or the Champs Sports Bowl (formerly Tangerine).
• The Capital One Bowl and the Cotton Bowl swap opponents every few years, giving the Big Ten an occasional berth in the Cotton Bowl.
• The Big Ten might be working on a creative package in which it is aligned with different bowls in different years, a rotation system of sorts.
"They’re looking at ways to have flexibility," said Ken Hoffman, director of the Motor City Bowl. "They may play in these bowls one year and those in another year."
Hoffman said he has been assured the Big Ten will renew its deal with his bowl, which has the sixth and final choice of the Big Ten’s non-BCS eligible teams. He said he didn’t think the Big Ten was going to drop a current bowl, but others aren’t so sure.
Tom Mickles, director of the Florida Citrus Sports Commission that runs the Capital One and Champs Sports bowls, said he thinks the Big Ten might drop one of its Texas-based bowls, the Alamo or Sun.
"They want a game in Texas, but I’m not sure they want two," Mickles said.
Mickles wants a Big Ten team for his beefedup Champs Bowl, which he said likely will move from its current Dec. 21 date to Dec. 28 or 29. The payout also likely will double, to at least $1.5 million per team.
To get a Big Ten team, the Insight Bowl probably would have to double its current payout of $750,000 per team, as well.
The Gator Bowl is pushing to land the Big Ten. It currently matches a Big East team (or Notre Dame) against an ACC team.
But the Big East has lost Miami, Virginia Tech and Boston College.
If the Big Ten added the Gator, or a richer Champs or Insight, and dropped several lesser bowls, it could gain about $2 million in payouts.
Mickles also said he had talked to Cotton Bowl officials about the Capital One bowl swapping its Big Ten opponent for a Big 12 team. He said that might happen only once every four years.
Ohio State is the only Big Ten team to have played in a Cotton Bowl, beating Texas A &M in 1987.
Bowl officials say they believe new deals will be in place by the end of July.
kgordon@dispatch.com
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