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Notes, Quotes and Slants
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College
Notebook No. 11
Wednesday, July 27, 2005
By Denny O'Brien |
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Liberty should fight for
status quo
�2005 Bonesville.net
Too much of a good thing must be bad. At
least that's the message Liberty Bowl executives are sending these days.
With the bowl's contract with Conference
USA set to expire after this year, game officials already are looking at
other leagues to fill the potential vacancy.
And like most postseason games of its
caliber, Lady Liberty is courting the usual suspects: Members from leagues
with a direct tie to the Bowl Championship Series.
Forget that C-USA and the Mountain West
Conference rescued the once-struggling game from the clutches of postseason
purgatory. Or that it was the only postseason game outside of the BCS that
annually featured a pair of highly-ranked conference champions.
This is the era of college sports in which
corporate sponsors have a tight grip on the purse strings, not to mention a
great deal of influence over how their generous dollars are spent.
"(The Liberty Bowl) was really a founding
piece of the league," C-USA commissioner Britton Banowsky said last summer.
"They stood up as the bowl partner at the very beginning and I think it's
been a mutually rewarding arrangement.
"Southern Miss brought over 10,000 fans (in
2003). It was an awesome, awesome environment. I think we are in it for the
long haul with the Liberty Bowl, but they've got a new title sponsor, and
they're going to have some say."
My guess is a lot.
Because at this stage the Liberty Bowl
deserves the benefit of the doubt. Until the evidence proves otherwise, we
should assume that AutoZone, the game's title sponsor, is encouraging the
Liberty Bowl to pursue a new direction.
One of the postseason's oldest and now more
successful bowls, it would make little sense for the Liberty Bowl to
initiate a dramatic shift in the game's dynamics. While an overwhelming
number of bowls have seen attendance and overall interest decline, the
Liberty Bowl has enjoyed a steady climb since 1994.
It doesn't take fancy arithmetic to explain
either trend.
The Liberty Bowl has flourished because it
features quality teams competing in a game in which the stakes are fairly
high. Most recently that prize has been a spot among the Top Ten and
bragging rights as the nation's top non-BCS club.
As a result, New Year's Eve in Memphis has
been marked by an annual invasion of fans who drop bundles of Benjamins at
local hotels and eateries. Not to be overlooked is the improved television
ratings for a game that once struggled to attract viewers.
Even though Louisville has fled for the Big
East, there is no reason to think C-USA won't continue to produce the same
type of bowl entry. East Carolina, Marshall, and Southern Miss have rich
postseason traditions, while Memphis and UTEP are emerging gridiron forces
with energized, deep-pocketed fans.
Likewise for the Mountain West. There
aren't many programs with more history than Brigham Young � and Colorado
State, Texas Christian, and Utah comprise a very attractive supporting cast.
With C-USA and the Mountain West, the
Liberty Bowl is virtually assured of featuring a pair of nine-win, Top 25
teams.
That's no guarantee with the Big East or
SEC.
With the SEC, the Liberty Bowl likely will
be no better than fifth in the pecking order due to the other postseason
ties the conference will have. Though it still could provide the game with a
high-profile program, it may not generate much excitement if the SEC entry
considers Memphis a consolation prize for a disappointing season.
The Big East's case would be slightly
different given the number of bowls it is expected to lose when the new
contracts are finalized. Even so, only Louisville and West Virginia have
strong reputations for fans who travel and spend well.
Of course, Liberty Bowl officials probably
know this. By now, those shrewd bean counters have crunched enough numbers
to see that a pair of middle-of-the-pack finishers from BCS leagues couldn't
possibly generate the revenue equal to a match-up of two league champions.
The Champs Sports and Emerald bowls serve
as prime examples. Both are in more desirable destinations, but are barely
treading water due to the watered-down match-ups with which they annually
get stuck.
That's the danger the Liberty Bowl faces if
it goes the BCS route. It will become a another run-of-the-mill bowl that
mirrors many of the ho-hum postseason games that showcase mediocre
competition.
And that just ain't good.
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02/23/2007 02:00:12 AM |
