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College Bowl Season Set To Begin, Including New Game In Montgomery

The ’14-15 college bowl season kicks off tomorrow with five games. Financial documents filed this summer by New Orleans Bowl Inc. indicated that last year's R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl generated $3.77M in revenue, with 58% of that via ticket sales. Last year's game drew its third straight year of record attendance, with each of those three games featuring Louisiana-Lafayette. Expenses were $3.64M, including $1M in payouts to teams. Tomorrow's other four games are all owned and operated by ESPN Events, and comparable financial data is not available. Also see a list of bowl gifts being given to participants (David Broughton, Research Director).

BOWL GAMES SET FOR SATURDAY, DEC. 20
BOWL (BEGAN) MATCHUP LOCATION
TIME (ET)
TV
R+L Carriers New Orleans ('01) Nevada-Louisiana Lafayette New Orleans
11:00am
ESPN
Gildan New Mexico ('06) UTEP-Utah State Albuquerque
2:20pm
ESPN
Royal Purple Las Vegas ('92) Colorado State-Utah Las Vegas
3:30pm
ABC
Famous Idaho Potato ('97) Western Michigan-Air Force Boise
5:45pm
ESPN
Raycom Media Camellia ('14) Bowling Green-South Alabama Montgomery
9:15pm
ESPN

The newly created Camellia Bowl exists because the Sun Belt and MAC "asked for it." The conferences "coveted more bowl tie-ins, and they saw in ESPN a way to get one." Sun Belt Commissioner Karl Benson said, “If you look at the number of new bowl games created in the last 18 months, they’ve all been done to accommodate the conferences that have been underserved by the bowl system.” Montgomery-based title sponsor Raycom "owns a station in Toledo, Ohio, about 20 miles from Bowling Green, giving it two outlets to publicize the game in the teams’ home markets." ESPN Events Senior VP Pete Derzis said, "We realize this isn’t Ohio State-Alabama in New Orleans, but we realize Montgomery’s got a perfect location" (NYTIMES.com, 12/19).

The Falcons' Association of Graduates has "canceled, or at least downsized, a pregame tailgate before Saturday's game against Western Michigan." However, Air Force Associate AD Jim Trego said that the decision "does not necessarily reflect the number of the team's fans who will be in attendance." Air Force as of Wednesday had sold 3,500 tickets to its bowl, "a number that probably falls well short of its allotment" (DENVER POST, 12/18).

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