Texas, Louisiana And Georgia Cities Vie To Host Champions Bowl
Created out of thin air, owned wholly by the conferences involved, worth $80 million annually to ESPN and boringly coined the “Champions Bowl” by those in the sport who allowed the Poulan Weed Eater Independence Bowl to happen, a southern home awaits. Per ESPN, Louisiana, Georgia and Texas intend to present bids to host the postseason matchup between the Big 12 and SEC that debuts after the 2014 season.
August 20, 2012 8:53 pm via TweetDeckReplyRetweetFavorite
Joining New Orleans (Sugar) and Atlanta (Chick-Fil-A) are Lone Star State locales Arlington (Cotton), San Antonio (Alamo) and Houston (Texas). Whichever city takes making it rain cues from Pac-Man Jones will fold the Champions Bowl format into an already existing game.
As the World Wide Leader alludes to, Cowboys Stadium and the Superdome remain heavy favorites. Jerry Jones has made clear his goal of hosting this matchup and the first playoff national title game. Unless New Orleans reschedules Mardi Gras and forwards all profits from it to the Champions Bowl bid, north Texas is the likely landing place.
So while Arlington offers the slick stadium and a bag of unmarked bills, what about their competition?
Atlanta: Come on, the city gave the country the infamous Gold Club trial. You don’t think there are a few Champions Bowl executives wondering if they’re available for the same perks as mid-90′s NBA stars?
San Antonio: Well, there’s the River Walk and a stadium that only seats 65,000 (expandable to 72,000). ‘Ole San Antone’ is like a U.S. city bidding for the World Cup. Admirable, but there’s a Qatar out there willing to get dirty.
Houston: ESPN promised $80 million per year to broadcast the game. In a city where Enron showed number-crunching can earn you millions more, the SEC and Big 12 would like to let it ride. And by that, I mean cook the books and let the Rose Bowl know their game is worth nine figures.
New Orleans: “…what? I don’t remember. No, seriously, I don’t know if we told NOLA officials they won. Last thing I remember is the SoCo and Lime followed by the Mayor sticking the contract down a dancer’s, uh, blouse.”
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Chris Hengst is a writer for Rant Sports. You can follow him on Twitter @ShootyHoops.
