The NCAA News - News and FeaturesMay 12, 1997
Two new games added to bowl lineup
Motor City, Las Vegas Bowls among 19 set to be certified for 1997-98
Two new contests are among 19 football bowl games recommended for certification for the 1997-98 postseason by the NCAA Special Events Committee during its April 21-25 meeting in Orlando, Florida.
The certification recommendations are subject to approval by the NCAA Division I Championships/ Competition Cabinet.
The committee approved the Motor City Bowl, scheduled for December 26 in Pontiac, Michigan, and the Las Vegas Bowl, scheduled for December 20 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The Motor City Bowl would pit the champion of the Mid-American Conference against an at-large selection. This ends the Mid-American Conference's five-year affiliation with the Las Vegas Bowl, which was a closed bowl matching the Mid-American and Big West Conference champions.
When that affiliation ended, the Las Vegas Bowl was forced to seek initial certification as a "new" bowl because it had received several exemptions from certification policies that expired with its previous conference tie-in. The new bowl will match the third-place team in the Western Athletic Conference against an at-large selection.
In addition, the committee received information from representatives of the Big West Conference about a possible bowl game that would match the Big West champion against an at-large team. The committee reviewed the initial information and agreed to ask the group to appear in-person in June to seek initial certification for the coming season. If this game is certified, it would bring the number of bowls to 20 and the number of at-large berths to four.
The committee also invited representatives of a fourth new bowl--the Music City Bowl in Nashville, Tennessee--to make a final presentation next April for initial certification after the 1998 season. The bowl would pit the sixth-place team in the Southeastern Conference against an at-large selection.
Representatives of the Haka Bowl in New Zealand, which was certified before last season but failed to meet letter-of-credit requirements, did not seek initial certification for 1997-98.
In other football bowl-related actions, the Special Events Committee:
Affirmed that the Postseason Football Handbook establishes minimum criteria for the conduct of bowl games and that conference bowl agreements can exceed those minimum standards.
Voted to require, beginning in 1998-99, that each team in a bowl receive a minimum of 250 tickets between the 35-yard lines and 750 between the 35-yard lines and the goal lines. The committee also asked bowls to provide participating teams with charts to indicate the quality of the seats being provided.
Agreed the committee will continue to study ticket commitments required from bowls' sponsoring agencies and participating teams and determine whether incentive models provided to minimum-payout bowls could enhance local community ticket sales.
Agreed to ask representatives of the Collegiate Commissioners Association football supervisors group to consider whether "all-star" crews are as effective as set crews that work together during the season. Last season, bowl assignments were approximately half all-star crews and half set crews.
Voted to recommend that each bowl receive a maximum of $60,000 -- an increase of $10,000 from the current level -- in deductions from gross receipts for entertainment events specifically planned for teams and official parties.
Affirmed that the deduction from gross receipts for student-athlete awards should be a maximum of $300 per student-athlete (bond or wholesale invoice). The committee noted a significant improvement in the maximum value of permissible gifts provided by a majority of the bowls for student-athletes
Agreed that the policy for sideline-to-press-box phones should be agreed upon at the pre-bowl meeting of bowl representative and the directors of athletics of the competing institutions.
Postseason bowl games
Following are the names, dates, locations and match-ups for the postseason football bowl games recommended for certification by the NCAA Special Events Committee at its April 21-25 meeting in Orlando, Florida:
Builders Square Alamo Bowl -- December 30, 1997, San Antonio, Texas (Big Twelve No. 4 vs. Big Ten No. 4)
Carquest Bowl -- December 29, 1997, Fort Lauderdale, Florida (ACC No. 4 vs. Big East No. 3)
Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl -- January 2, 1998, Atlanta, Georgia (ACC No. 3 vs. SEC No. 4)
CompUSA Florida Citrus Bowl -- January 1 1998, Orlando, Florida (Big Ten No. 2 vs. SEC No. 2)
Copper Bowl -- December 27, 1997, Tucson, Arizona (Big Twelve No. 6 vs. WAC No. 2)
FedEx Orange Bowl -- January 2, 1998, Miami, Florida (Alliance No. 1 vs. Alliance No. 2)
Eagle Aloha Bowl Football Classic -- December 25, 1997, Honolulu, Hawaii (Big Twelve No. 5 vs. Pacific-10 No. 4)
Las Vegas Bowl -- December 20, 1997, Las Vegas, Nevada (WAC No. 3 vs. At-large)
Motor City Bowl -- December 26, 1997, Pontiac, Michigan (MAC No. 1 vs. At-large)
Nokia Sugar Bowl -- January 1, 1998, New Orleans, Louisiana (Alliance No. 3 vs. Alliance No. 5)
Norwest Sun Bowl -- December 31, 1997, El Paso, Texas (Pacific-10 No. 3 vs. Big Ten No. 5)
Outback Bowl -- January 1, 1998, Tampa, Florida (SEC No. 3 vs. Big Ten No. 3)
Poulan/Weed Eater Independence Bowl -- December 28, 1997, Shreveport, Louisiana (SEC No. 5 vs. At-large)
Plymouth Holiday Bowl -- December 29, 1997, San Diego, California (Big Twelve No. 3 vs. Pacific-10 No. 2 or WAC No. 1)
Rose Bowl -- January 1, 1998, Pasadena, California (Pacific-10 No. 1 vs. Big Ten No. 1)
Southwestern Bell Cotton Bowl -- January 1, 1998, Dallas, Texas (Big Twelve No. 2 vs. Pacific-10 No. 2 or WAC No. 1)
St. Jude Liberty Bowl -- December 31, 1997, Memphis, Tennessee (Big East No. 4 vs. Conference USA No. 1)
Tostitos Fiesta Bowl -- December 31, 1997, Tempe, Arizona (Alliance No. 4 vs. Alliance No. 6)
Toyota Gator Bowl -- January 1, 1998, Jacksonville, Florida (ACC No. 2 vs. Big East No. 2)
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