ESPN.com’s Brett McMurphy reported last night that two more cities — Houston and San Antonio — have decided to make bids for the new “Champions” Bowl being created by the Big XII and SEC. Those two cities join Arlington, New Orleans and Atlanta in the bidding process.
The two leagues asked 10 cities in all to bid for the new game, but to date, Jacksonville, Nashville, Orlando, Phoenix (Glendale), and Tampa have all twiddled their thumbs. The feeling is that officials in those five cities believe Arlington and New Orleans to be such heavy favorites to land the game that they don’t even need to get involved in this auction.
The fact that Houston and San Antonio have gotten involved is clearly a plus for both the SEC and Big XII as it will drive up the price of the game. More bidders = a better deal. For now, it’s believed the “Champions” Bowl will partner with an existing bowl, take part in the new playoffs as a semifinal game in four years out of the 12-year plan, and kick off for the first time on January 1st, 2015.
But no one is really sure of anything.
When first announced, it was believed the two conferences would create their own new game and bid it out to a different city each year like a Super Bowl or a Final Four. Soon after, however, the new playoff was created and the idea of rotating the game became a bit more complicated — due to semifinal tie-ins, television contracts, etc. Not to mention the fact that existing bowls already have the infrastructure in place to pull off a big game.
Now, as messed up and complicated as the new playoff and big bowl system will be — and if you thought the BCS was confusing, you ain’t seen nothing yet — it’s still theoretically possible for the SEC and Big XII to rotate their game between two, three or even more sites. We just wouldn’t bet on it. Like most others, we believe Arlington, Texas and Jerry Jones have the deepest pockets and that will result in the “Champions” Bowl becoming the Cotton Bowl.
At MrSEC.com, we would still prefer the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans get the nod because it’s more centrally-located between the two conferences and its a more tourist-friendly destination… but cash will likely rule the day.
