Report: “Champions” Bowl Goes To Sugar Bowl And New Orleans

November 6th, 2012 05:52 PM║ Posted By: John Pennington ║ Permalink ║ Schools: Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, LSU, Mississippi State, Missouri, Ole Miss, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas A&M, Vanderbilt
Tags: Champions Bowl, ESPN, New Orleans, SEC

I have no idea if the guy I voted for today will be President of the United States tomorrow, but if ESPN’s sources are correct, at least I can go to bed knowing that one race has gone the way I wanted.

ESPN’s Brett McMurphy is reporting that the SEC and Big XII have decided to place the “Champions” Bowl in New Orleans, meaning that the “Champions” Bowl will be known as the Sugar Bowl when it pits Big XII versus SEC on January 1st, 2015.

New Orleans and the Superdome outbid Arlington, Texas and Cowboys Stadium for the right to host the game.

New Orleans is the better tourist destination — no offense to the Metroplex — and the Superdome has hosted just about every major sporting event in America at one time or another. It’s also about as close to the geographic center of the two leagues as you could get (while still remaining in a warm city).

McMurphy reports that the leagues will indeed receive $80 million from ESPN as expected… the same cash amount paid out to the Rose Bowl. One gets bank because it’s been around for a century. The other gets mucho cash because it’s home to the two best leagues of the BCS era.

Good call, SEC and Big XII. The best site won.

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3 comments

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mikee4bama

Now does this mean New Orleans will not be available to bid as one of host cities for the new playoffs?

DanHogan

@mikee4bama That's been my hope for both Champions (now Sugar) and Rose, but I can't find anything anywhere that would confirm that as an option. Everything I've seen so far assumes those two bowls still get a semi a few times over the 12 years. I can't figure out how much $$ the conferences get when a semi is there compared to the contract years.

I4Bama

Not to be contrary, and I understand we are speaking in relative terms, but I have been to two Sugar Bowls and I would not have called either warm (outside the dome of course).

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