Others awaiting Cap One's bowl deal
Orlando's New Year's Day game dictates who some bowls can possibly invite to their events.
By Alan Schmadtke
Sentinel Staff Writer
June 8, 2005
Tom Mickle and Loren Matthews are the two people getting served at post office windows just ahead of you.
They're the ones at the grocery store who need price checks.
And just as you're ready to pay for that gum and soda, they're buying Lotto tickets, gobs of them.
Everyone is waiting on them.
College football bowl directors across America are hopeful that Mickle, Orlando's bowl pitchman, and Matthews, ABC's chief college sports negotiator, finally can agree this week to terms of future Capital One Bowl games.
Bowl organizers beyond Orlando are ready to strike their own deals. "But we're all waiting on the Capital One," Gator Bowl President Rick Catlett said.
"I'm getting calls from bowl directors all over the country, bowl organizers and commissioners," Mickle said. " 'What's going on? What's new? How do you stand?' I don't know what'll happen."
Mickle, executive director of Florida Citrus Sports, which puts on the Capital One and Champs Sports bowls, meets with Matthews and others at ABC today in New York. The framework of a deal already is in place: first pick of the Southeastern Conference's non-BCS teams to play the first pick of the Big Ten's non-Rose Bowl or BCS teams.
What's left are two important points. How much is ABC willing to pay for a slightly more diluted game? And how much does FCSports want to give up so it can keep a window of SEC-vs.-Big Ten exclusivity in place?
With the BCS creating two extra spots, watering down the bowl market for every game below its five games starting in 2006, ABC might not want to give FCSports what it has been. If not, the Capital One's per-team payout of $5.25 million is expected to shrink to about $4.5 million.
Mickle has acknowledged it makes little sense to pay higher prices to conferences when the BCS could absorb one or two teams that otherwise might be in his game.
And yet, he said, "We think the value's still there for our game. We don't anticipate our payout dropping."
Matthews did not respond to questions relayed through an ABC spokesperson.
ABC has until the end of June before its exclusive negotiating window with FCSports expires, but bowl officials are hearing a deal may be imminent.
If so, it triggers a new set of talks between TV partners and a slew of other bowls, starting with the Gator, Cotton, Alamo, Outback and Peach.
"All of us are talking to our partners right now, saying here's what we're hearing and doing, but you can't really negotiate until you know what teams you might have access to," Alamo Bowl Executive Director Derrick S. Fox said.
Orlando's next deal, expected to detail four games (from Jan. 1, 2007 through Jan. 1, 2010), impacts the Gator, Cotton, Outback and Alamo bowls. The Cotton and Outback are directly affected by FCSports' exclusivity clause with the SEC and Big Ten.
The clause gives the Orlando bowl non-compete rights against any bowls with SEC or Big Ten teams.
Over the years, it has meant pre-noon kickoff times for the Cotton (10 a.m. in Dallas) and Outback (11 a.m.).
The agreement effectively prevented the Gator from landing an SEC team in prior bowl talks. If the clause remains in place, it will block the Gator from securing an SEC or Big Ten team this time, too, for the Gator is committed to staying on New Year's Day, Catlett said.
At this point, the Alamo is indirectly affected. Gator officials are talking to the SEC, Big Ten and Big 12 as possible replacements for the Big East/Notre Dame alliance. Catlett said he already has a handshake agreement to have an Atlantic Coast Conference non-champion as its host team.
If the SEC and Big Ten aren't in play for the Gator, Jacksonville's Jan. 1 game becomes a competitor for a Big 12 team -- a pool in which the Alamo has swum successfully.
The Cotton, Gator and Holiday bowls have discussed a sharing arrangement for Big 12 teams, but similar talks among other bowls and other conferences have progressed only so far.
"Everybody would love to have flexibility," Fox said. "The logistics is where the rubber meets the road. You have multiple conferences and teams and bowls, all different sets of needs for tickets and travel and hotels. There's a lot of moving parts, and it becomes challenging. That's why you haven't seen it."
Behind the bowl curtain, several issues are being sorted out. Such as:
ACC protection. Wary of worst-case-scenarios playing out elsewhere -- conference title game losers tumbling too far -- ACC Commissioner John Swofford wants assurances the ACC Championship Game loser won't fall beyond a certain point. Logic says that point is Charlotte, given the city's proximity to the core of the league, but it's not that simple. Unless it can move ahead of the Gator, Peach or Champs Sports, Charlotte will be No. 5 in line, a potential ego-busting spot for a division winner.
A Big East landing. Commissioner Mike Tranghese is earning his money. Tranghese is working hard to keep Notre Dame part of the league's postseason mix, and he also may need to find a new home for his runner-up if the Gator turns elsewhere. In that event, the Big East is left with another set of eastern options: Meineke Car Care (Charlotte), Liberty and Music City.
Lease and other talks in Jacksonville. The Gator needs a new lease to play in Alltel Stadium after the 2006 game and has proposed a 10-year agreement. More pressing, though, is sorting through in-stadium signage issues. Jacksonville's agreement with the NFL's Jaguars gives the club control of signage even for non-NFL events, a deal that could hurt the Gator's ability to jump its payout above the current $1.9 million. Catlett said the bowl needs to hike the payout to at least $2.25 million to stay competitive.
Alan Schmadtke can be reached at aschmadtke@orlandosentinel.com.
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