http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/b....1c3bee87.html

Football: S.A. bowl may get attractive time slot

Web Posted: 05/25/2006 12:00 AM CDT
Tim Griffin
Express-News Staff Writer

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — MasterCard Alamo Bowl officials have had informal discussions with Alamodome and Big 12 officials about moving the game to Jan. 7.

The Alamo Bowl would be the latest of any bowl game except the new BCS national championship game. It would be the first time the game has been played after Jan. 1 and would provide scheduling challenges.

The proposed move is being pushed by ESPN, which would promote the game as its final bowl of the season. It would start at 7 p.m. on a Sunday, programming's most appealing viewership window.

With the game played after two NFL playoff games that day and no other network sports programming at the time, it potentially could earn big ratings.

"It's something we're talking about," MasterCard Alamo Bowl executive director Derrick Fox said, shortly before leaving the Big 12 meetings at the Broadmoor, where he met with top conference officials. "We haven't made any firm decision and are still weighing a lot of different options before we make a decision. But we are considering it."

The Alamodome could ask to push back the U.S. Army All-American Bowl, set for Jan. 6, and a Jan. 13 monster truck show, or it could squeeze in the Alamo Bowl the day after the All-American Bowl.

But that would make it difficult in terms of game management, Alamodome manager Mike Abington said.

"It looks like something we could pull off, but it would require some major cooperation from a lot of different people," Abington said. "We have not reached any conclusion. It is something that is the current priority topic for us and the bowl game."

Big 12 commissioner Kevin Weiberg said most of the conference's athletic directors were against moving any non-BCS game past New Year's Day because of travel issues for fans and because the late games could approach the start of the second semester at some schools.

"I think there's a feeling the national championship game can work because it's the national championship game," Weiberg said. "But I think there's a pretty strong feeling that other bowls shouldn't go that way. I didn't sense a lot of desire to think about that at this point."

If the game were not played Jan. 7, it likely would be the middle game in an ESPN tripleheader Dec. 27, likely at 2:30p.m.

The Alamo Bowl has a strong relationship with ESPN. The network signed an eight-year extension with the bowl last week stretching through 2013. And its 5.41 rating for last year's game between Nebraska and Michigan made it the most-watched college football game in ESPN history.

In other business at the Big 12 meetings, Fox and Weiberg said they do not expect a decision on the 2007 football championship game to be made before the end of the conference meetings today.

Weiberg said San Antonio appears to be the favorite but stressed no contract has been signed with the city, bowl or Alamodome officials.

The conference hopes to bundle the announcement of the football championship with the men's and women's basketball site for 2008. The new Sprint Center in Kansas City has emerged as the leading contender for the men's tournament during that season, with the women playing at Municipal Auditorium.

"We think about that as our prime prospect for 2008, and there has been some discussion for San Antonio (for the football game)," Weiberg said. "That's where we have put a lot of our focus, but we still don't have agreements."

A proposal to expand the Big 12's conference schedule to nine games was killed by athletic directors before a vote was taken.

And Weiberg said there was a "50-50 chance" of continuing the Houston Bowl before the June 26 deadline set by the NCAA bowl licensing committee. The bowl is in financial trouble without a le sponsor or television contract and still owes some of its $1.2million payout from last year to the Big 12 and Mountain West conferences.
Interesting. The Alamobowl is already in the top 12 in payout after what, 12 years. It's on par with bowl games that are 2-3 times older for the most part. The better time slot would definitely improve it's value.

I think them discussing bringing the Big XII championship back to SA is funny. The reason they left SA is because the schools complained they could make more money hosting the event themselves, so why would they come back?