Officials with the Freedom Bowl are expected to ask for a
four-or-five day extension on today's deadline "to notify the
NCAA whether the game has enough funding to be played this year,"
according to Randy Franz in this morning's ORANGE COUNTY
REGISTER.  Although the game is close to signing a TV deal with
ESPN or Turner Broadcasting, a title sponsor is needed to cover
the $1.5M required to keep the event going.  The NCAA Special
Event's Committee gave the Orange County Sports Association until
today to say how it would raise the money.  OCSA Exec Dir Jerry
McGee is confident the game will survive.  McGee:  "We found a
lot of interest out of a couple networks.  A promising sign is
they've said once they're on board, they will work with us to
secure a title sponsor" (ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER, 6/15).