Bowl-ed Over: Notes From College Football’s Postseason

With the college bowl season wrapping up following Texas’ win over USC in the Rose Bowl last night, THE DAILY presents a round-up of news and notes from the bowl games.

ROSE BOWL: In L.A., David Wharton reports the attendance at last night’s Texas-USC Rose Bowl was 93,986 (L.A. TIMES, 1/5).

ORANGE BOWL: In Ft. Lauderdale, Craig Barnes reported the FedEx Orange Bowl and Dolphins Stadium inked an eight-year partnership to keep the game at its current location. The deal has a “four-year mutual extension option” that would keep the Orange Bowl at Dolphins Stadium through 2018. The agreement includes revenue sharing on merchandising, concessions and parking, and the Orange Bowl is responsible for game operations expenses. Orange Bowl CEO Keith Tribble said that negotiations on a four-year extension of FedEx’ title sponsorship were “moving in a positive direction and could be resolved within 45-60 days” (SUN-SENTINEL, 12/30).

SUGAR BOWL: Nokia Sugar Bowl Exec Dir Paul Hoolahan is “comfortable with projections that the Superdome, which was damaged heavily during Hurricane Katrina, will be ready by November.” He said that the plan is for Sugar Bowl staffers to “stay in Atlanta through March before some head back to New Orleans.” Meanwhile, Sugar Bowl officials are looking for temporary office space in New Orleans (ATLANTA CONSTITUTION, 1/3). Hoolahan: “I’m absolutely confident we will be playing in the Superdome next year.” In New Orleans, John DeShazier noted the January 2 West Virginia-Georgia Sugar Bowl was played in front of a sellout crowd of 74,458 at the Georgia Dome (New Orleans TIMES-PICAYUNE, 1/3).

Fiesta Bowl Nets Largest Crowd For A Non-Title Game

FIESTA BOWL: In Arizona, Andrew Bagnato reported the crowd of 76,196 for the January 2 Tostitos Fiesta Bowl featuring Ohio State and Notre Dame was the largest Fiesta Bowl crowd for a non-title game (ARIZONA REPUBLIC, 1/3).

HOUSTON BOWL: In Houston, John Lopez reported the December 31 EV1.net Houston Bowl between TCU and Iowa State drew only 37,286, leaving over 32,000 empty seats. Through December 31, only four out of 20 bowl games played were sellouts and nine games had been “played in front of more than 10,000 empty seats each.” Of the sellouts, only one -— the December 30 Vitalis Sun Bowl -— was at a stadium with more than 43,000 seats (HOUSTON CHRONICLE, 1/1).

INDEPENDENCE BOWL: In Shreveport, Scott Ferrell noted the Missouri-South Carolina Independence Bowl on December 30 drew a crowd of 41,332, the “smallest since the 2000 ‘Snow Bowl’ between Mississippi State and Texas A&M.” That game, which was played during Independence Stadium’s renovation, drew 36,974. Independence Bowl interim Exec Dir Missy Setters said, “I was a little disappointed in the walk-up (crowd) considering how nice a day (73 degrees at kickoff) it was” (SHREVEPORT TIMES, 1/1).

Independence Bowl Draws Smallest Crowd Since ‘00

MUSIC CITY BOWL: In Richmond, Jeff White reports about 25,000 fans attended the Virginia-Minnesota Gaylord Hotels Music City Bowl on December 30, and Virginia AD Craig Littlepage estimated that 10,000-12,000 Virginia fans were at the game. Music City Bowl Exec Dir Scott Ramsey estimated the figure to be around 10,000. White notes the Music City Bowl’s official tie-in with the ACC was not scheduled to start until ’06, but the SEC did not have enough bowl-eligible teams this season and could not fill its slot in the game (RICHMOND TIMES-DISPATCH, 1/5).

ALAMO BOWL: In San Antonio, Clint Hale noted the crowd of 62,016 at the Nebraska-Michigan MasterCard Alamo Bowl on December 28 was the fifth-largest in the game’s 13-year history and its second-largest for a match-up featuring two out-of-state teams behind 65,265 for last year’s Ohio State-Oklahoma State game (SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS, 12/29).

EMERALD BOWL: In S.F., John Crumpacker reported attendance at the Utah-Georgia Tech Emerald Bowl on December 29 was 25,742 (S.F. CHRONICLE, 12/30).

HAWAII BOWL: In Honolulu, Ferd Lewis reported 16,134 fans attended the Nevada-Central Florida Sheraton Hawaii Bowl on December 24, the lowest mark in the game’s four-year history (HONOLULU ADVERTISER, 1/4). This was the first time in the bowl’s history that the Univ. of Hawaii did not compete in the game (THE DAILY).

DOUBLE DIP: In San Diego, Mick McGrane reported the December 22 San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl between Navy and Colorado State produced ticket sales of more than 40,000 and the December 29 Oklahoma-Oregon Pacific Life Holiday Bowl had an attendance of 65,416. Poinsettia and Holiday Bowl Dir Bruce Binkowski did not have figures on the Poinsettia Bowl’s impact on the city of San Diego, but he did say that this year’s Holiday Bowl is “expected to exceed the $30[M] impact range reported each of the past two years” (SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, 12/31).