Pac-12 and Mountain West teams have faced off at the Las Vegas Bowl since '01GETTY IMAGES
The Las Vegas Bowl will "move from UNLV’s Sam Boyd Stadium" to the Raiders' new stadium in '20 and "in the process end a 19-year relationship with the Mountain West Conference," according to sources cited by college football reporter Brett McMurphy. Sources said that starting in '20, which coincides with the beginning of the next NCAA bowl cycle, the Las Vegas Bowl "will feature a Pac-12 team" against another Power Five team. Some sources "consider the SEC the favorite to ultimately face the Pac-12 in the Vegas Bowl." The Pac-12 currently "plays bowl games" against each of the Power Five conferences, except for the SEC. Meanwhile, with the Las Vegas Bowl "out of the mix for the Mountain West champion" starting in '20, the league is "looking at other options" for where to send its champion. Sources said that "one possibility is the Arizona Bowl" at Arizona Stadium in Tucson. Sources also said that the MWC is "expected to add another bowl tie-in 2020, possibly a newly created bowl in Tempe at Arizona State" (FACEBOOK.com, 6/7).
TIME WILL TELL: Las Vegas Bowl Exec Dir John Saccenti said that it is "too early to say what conferences will be affiliated with the bowl when it negotiates new contracts." Saccenti said, "We’re talking to conferences we have deals with right now about what the future would look like. We are entertaining conversations with other conferences." He also said that bowl execs across the nation are "waiting for the NCAA Football Oversight Committee to release a report that will address conference tie-ins." In San Diego, Kirk Kenney notes the report was "originally scheduled for release in April" and is now expected to come out by July 1. Saccenti said the "dominoes are going to fall very quickly" once the report comes out. Saccenti: "Everybody is going to get free reign to try to strike some deals. It’s going to go fast and furious. We’re all having conversations right now, but nobody can do anything right now." He added, “For us to say we’re going away from one conference and going to another conference, this is where we’re going to be, that’s a little premature” (SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, 6/8).
ROCKY TERRAIN: In Utah, Lafe Peavler noted the Las Vegas Bowl is "currently the Mountain West's only bowl tie-in" with a Power Five team. The MWC "still has the ability to send its champion to a New Year's Six bowl if that champion is the highest ranked out of the Group of 5 conferences." But unless the MWC is "able to make a deal with a new bowl game, it will join the MAC and the Sun Belt as conferences without a Power 5 bowl tie-in" (DESERETNEWS.com, 6/7). SB NATION's Jason Kirk wrote the move "would be a pretty huge loss" for the MWC. Sending the conference champion to the Arizona Bowl would be a "significant step down in just about every way, including financially -- the Vegas means seven figures for the MWC, while the Arizona basically pays in the low sixes." Like "just about everything in college football, this move would be good for everybody except the non-powers" (SBNATION.com, 6/7).
