The NCAA News - News and Features

June 30, 1997

Two conferences, alliance agree on participation in bowls

The football bowl alliance agreed June 23 to virtually guarantee teams from the Western Athletic Conference and Conference USA a bid to an alliance bowl if they are ranked in the top six, according to The Associated Press.

The agreement becomes effective in 1998.

If a WAC team doesn't qualify, the conference will receive $1.6 million under a revenue-sharing agreement. Conference USA also received a revenue-sharing agreement, but league officials did not immediately reveal what the offer was.

Technically, there is no guarantee for the upcoming season, although the WAC becomes an alliance member for promotional, marketing and still-to-be-determined voting purposes.

In accepting the alliance offer, WAC Commissioner Karl D. Benson said, ``the presidents (of league schools) had a strong consensus the WAC could not afford to stay on the outside. We need to get inside and work from the inside to improve our situation in the short and long term.

``We were afraid of being squeezed out. We certainly wish the conditions would have been more favorable, but we have to recognize this gives us a chance to improve our lot in life.''

Controversy over the bowl alliance flared in late 1996 after Western Athletic Conference member Brigham Young University, which appeared to meet criteria set by the alliance for an at-large selection, was passed over for lower-ranked teams. Brigham Young was ranked fifth in 1996 with a 13-1 record.

However, bowl alliance chair Roy F. Kramer, commissioner of the Southeastern Conference, said the agreement was not prompted by Brigham Young's exclusion.

``None of the BYU situation was really addressed in the conversation,'' Kramer said. ``There has always been discussion as to what level of participation these conferences would have. They have been significant negotiations and we never got to a stone wall.''

Under the current arrangement that will continue through the 1997 season, champions of the Southeastern, Atlantic Coast, Big Twelve and Big East Conferences are guaranteed four of the six spots in the Orange, Fiesta and Sugar Bowls. The other two bids go to at-large teams. There are no guarantees for any other conferences unless one of their teams would form a No. 1 vs. No. 2 matchup.

Under the new agreement, a WAC or Conference USA team could still be left out of an alliance game if there are multiple teams ranked in the top six who do not have automatic bids to an alliance bowl. However, it is likely that only a string of upsets in conference championship games would bring about such a scenario.

The agreement will last four years and begin with the 1998 season, when the new "super alliance" involving the Rose Bowl takes effect.

The bowl alliance still has no agreement with the University of Notre Dame, an independent, but said discussions are continuing.