Requests for Proposal from cities “with a desire to host the Champions Bowl are expected to go out next week,” according to sources cited by Brett McMurphy of CBSSPORTS.com. College football's newly-created national championship game is “expected to be anchored in one spot beginning after the 2014 regular season.” Dallas and Atlanta, “among other cities, are known to be interested.” Parties expect a “quick turnaround on awarding the host city of the Champions Bowl.” The Bowl committee then “must decide how many times it would host the national semifinals.” Dallas is considered “a favorite to land the game.” Sources said that the SEC “would welcome a game into new recruiting territory in Texas,” as Cowboys Stadium “is state of the art.” Atlanta would be “at a disadvantage because of the possibility of the same SEC team playing at the venue within a few weeks” as the Georgia Dome also hosts the SEC title game. Sources said that the Champions Bowl “will not be the actual name of the bowl.” Instead it will “assume the name of the bowl where it's held, such as the Cotton Bowl or Chick-fil-A Bowl, etc” (CBSSPORTS.com, 7/19). SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL’s Michael Smith asked Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby if he thinks the Champions Bowl will rotate around multiple sites. Bowlsby said, “We’ll send the RFP out to a number of different places. It’s conceivable that it will be rotated, but on the other hand, it depends on what the offers are. Another element of this is that the Champions Bowl will be a semifinal in the national championship series on some occasions. We think it’s going to be four times in the 12 years, but we don’t know yet for sure” (THE DAILY).
WAITING GAME: Cotton Bowl President Rick Baker said, “We are anxiously awaiting the RFP so that we can find out more information about what exactly the Champions Bowl entails. It’s our understanding that will be forthcoming in the near future.” In Dallas, Chuck Carlton wrote it “might not be the only avenue for the Cotton Bowl Classic to host the national semifinals, not with Cowboys Stadium and sponsor AT&T.” Baker said, “We certainly look at the Champions Bowl as one opportunity. But we also know that there may be other opportunities that may present themselves with the at-large games. We’ll certainly be exploring that option as well” (DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 7/20).
