Louisiana Stadium & Exposition District Commissioner Robert Bruno yesterday suggested to SMG officials, the company that manages Mercedes-Benz Superdome, that they “consider getting in the business of hosting major regular-season college football games,” according to Nakia Hogan of the New Orleans TIMES-PICAYUNE. Bruno said that he “would like to see matchups similar to the LSU-Oregon game earlier this season at Cowboys Stadium and the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Classic between Georgia and Boise State at the Georgia Dome.” Bruno: “What Texas has been able to do with the new stadium that they have there in attracting big college football games is something that we have to do here.” SMG Senior VP/Stadiums & Arenas Doug Thornton was “in full agreement and acknowledged that his staff already has been searching to land such a game, pitting two regional teams from BCS conferences.” Superdome execs are “also considering hosting a Football Championship Subdivision doubleheader with in-state teams.” Thornton: “We would like to pursue a major college football game that would be played in the early part of the season that would be attractive for this region.” He added, “Now the challenge with that is an economic challenge. These schools like LSU, the University of Texas, Alabama, any of these schools in the region make a lot of money with their home games. And for them to give up a home game and attract a quality opponent like the LSU-Oregon game in Dallas, there has to be a substantial guarantee of income, which puts the financial risks on the promoter, which would be (SMG) or us and a partner” (New Orleans TIMES-PICAYUNE, 10/20).
GETTING READY TO BID: ACC Commissioner John Swofford said that the conference within the next year "will send requests for bids from cities that want to host ACC tournaments." The ACC is scheduled through '15, with a "trip to Atlanta's Philips Arena this season followed by three years at the Greensboro Coliseum." The bid requests "will present an opportunity for Charlotte, which last hosted an ACC tournament in 2008, to get in the mix again." Swofford: "This city has hosted a lot of very successful tournaments, and the last one we had here at Time Warner (Arena) was very successful, and we got great feedback from our fans from that tournament" (CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 10/20).
