(05-10-2012 09:37 PM)chrisattsu Wrote:  Take the Kraft bowl and build the brand nationally. Everyone else has bowl games outside of their footprint so they Can build their national brands.

Naw, secure bowls within the footprint and lock the region down. Our fanbases will travel within our league borders, so no need to move beyond them. The good thing about the Sun Belt is we are very concerned about making things easy for our folks, our bowl tie-ins are no different.

I have a young family and we can make most any Conference game or bowl game as things stand now. I can tell you now we will never attend a bowl outside the Sun Belt's current footprint, and I would venture a guess I'm not alone. It makes no sense to go after bowl games far away, when you know most people aren't going to travel that far.

Look for either a bowl in Texas or Florida, and keep it within the footprint. Unless Little Rock or Birmingham get something going, those are our best options.

I wish Montgomery could secure a bowl game. the renovations to Crampton Bowl are incredible, the stadium is nicer than half the ones hosting bowl games these days! Plus, the Riverwalk area is super nice and there is TONS to do. Some folks may not believe me, but yall would have a blast in the Gump these days!

edit: They announced on the news tonight that Montgomery's Crampton Bowl would host a premier college all-star game in early January starting next year. Basically I think we're relaunching the Blue Gray Game.

(05-10-2012 10:23 PM)chiefsfan Wrote:  Look for either a bowl in Texas or Florida, and keep it within the footprint. Unless Little Rock or Birmingham get something going, those are our best options.

This business of CUSA dropping the 18 number and throwing out little mentions of FAU, WKU, and MTSU may have something to do with keeping bowls guessing about our future.

At some point those schools should demand that CUSA either issue invites or get off the pot because they will cut their own throats with SBC bowl ties if they let it drag out and allow themselves to be flirted with for two years.

(05-10-2012 10:31 PM)ark30inf Wrote:  At some point those schools should demand that CUSA either issue invites or get off the pot because they will cut their own throats with SBC bowl ties if they let it drag out and allow themselves to be flirted with for two years.

Better yet, let all our schools pubicly declare we are staying in the Sun Belt and tell C-USA to kiss off. Problem solved.

(05-10-2012 10:34 PM)Burn the Horse Wrote:  

(05-10-2012 10:31 PM)ark30inf Wrote:  At some point those schools should demand that CUSA either issue invites or get off the pot because they will cut their own throats with SBC bowl ties if they let it drag out and allow themselves to be flirted with for two years.

Better yet, let all our schools pubicly declare we are staying in the Sun Belt and tell C-USA to kiss off. Problem solved.

Grant of rights. It's the only way. It appears to have saved the Big 12.

But.....thats unlikely and at a minimum I would like to see those that are going to bail just go ahead and bail so we can figure out what we have left and what we need to do to move on.

It's a shame that the past still holds such a heavy shadow over truth today. It's like the Roman Empire trying to convince the "savages" that their law still remains after Rome herself has been sacked. Of cource, C-USA is no Rome, but the anaolgy is pretty solid I think.

Columbus, GA would be perfect central location for most of the SBC schools. We're a city of around 300,000 people, including Ft. Benning. The largest stadium in the city is Memorial Stadium in the downtown area.
http://visitcolumbusga.com/visitors/spor...l_stadium1
It seats 15,000, but I'm sure the city would expand the venue if a bowl game was in the works. Columbus is used to hosting big events, we hosted the 1996 Summer Olympic Games softball events at Golden Park. It's now a minor league stadium.

Memorial Stadium is next to the Columbus Civic Center and very close to Downtown Columbus.
http://www.columbusciviccenter.org/arena/
http://visitcolumbusga.com/meeting/sport...vic_center

Downtown Columbus has dozens of restaurants and bars. Columbus State University has a downtown campus so bars are plentiful. My favorite is the Cannon BrewPub, great burgers and great beer.
http://visitcolumbusga.com/

There's plenty to do in Columbus. In the downtown area we have the Springer Opera House, River Center for the Performing Arts (Columbus State and Columbus Symphony Orchestra), Coca-Cola Space Science Center, National Civil War Naval Museum, and the RiverWalk. All are within walking distance of the stadium. Of course you can go 15-20 minutes down the road and go shopping at the countless shopping centers and the Peachtree Mall.
http://www.peachtreemall.com/

The city is also revamping the RiverWalk with the addition of white water rafting! It will be longest urban white water course in the world. Dams built along the river will be demolished to bring the Chattahoochee River back to its original state. It opens in 14 months.
http://columbusgawhitewater.com/

(05-10-2012 09:31 PM)Skincade Wrote:  There is talk of a new bowl game in Little Rock (War Memorial Stadium) with a SunBelt tie in(Rice Bowl).

I was involved in meetings on that subject two years ago and local interest was underwhelming.

(05-01-2012 01:23 PM)slappycajun Wrote:  Bowls are about selling tickets. I doubt we have traveled well enough to bowl games to justify getting more tie-ins.

GoDaddy and New Orleans were both asking to renew after last year.

(05-01-2012 01:43 PM)HuskieJohn Wrote:  Other than getting a secondary tie in I don't see any additional bowls for the Sun Belt or MAC. I actually see CUSA and MWC losing 1 ea at least.

I fully expect CUSA to lose the Liberty and Beef O'Brady.

If GoDaddy doesn't move the location of their bowl, they might as well just drop it. Absolutely the WORST stadium and bowl I've ever been to. And yes, it even topped Detroit and the Little Caesars Bowl.

(05-11-2012 01:15 PM)MTalum09 Wrote:  If GoDaddy doesn't move the location of their bowl, they might as well just drop it. Absolutely the WORST stadium and bowl I've ever been to. And yes, it even topped Detroit and the Little Caesars Bowl.

Funny..seems like everyone else had a good time in Mobile. The GoDaddy Bowl has more financial backing than the New Orleans Bowl by the way.

Yes, our stadium is old.

(05-11-2012 01:33 PM)Tom in Lazybrook Wrote:  

(05-11-2012 01:15 PM)MTalum09 Wrote:  If GoDaddy doesn't move the location of their bowl, they might as well just drop it. Absolutely the WORST stadium and bowl I've ever been to. And yes, it even topped Detroit and the Little Caesars Bowl.

Funny..seems like everyone else had a good time in Mobile. The GoDaddy Bowl has more financial backing than the New Orleans Bowl by the way.

Yes, our stadium is old.

When I visited for the MT vs. Ohio game, everything on Dauphin Street was closed. After the game, we literally had to drive to the other side of Mobile to find a restaurant that was open. There were parents with young kids at our hotel (the team hotel) that just wanted to get their children food, but due to a mix up with the hotel, they closed the restaurant (and room service) super early (before the game was over) so if you didn't own a car, then you were SOL. The team "locker rooms" at the stadium were tents...literally. Mobile just looked run down to me and that stadium needs a ridiculous amount of work. It was just an awful trip overall. I just can't believe GoDaddy puts that stadium on National TV. No offense, but with the bad location and huge need for improvements, I figured someone would have stepped up by now to change it.

(05-11-2012 01:33 PM)Tom in Lazybrook Wrote:  [quote='MTalum09' pid='7881112' dateline='1336760111']
If GoDaddy doesn't move the location of their bowl, they might as well just drop it. Absolutely the WORST stadium and bowl I've ever been to. And yes, it even topped Detroit and the Little Caesars Bowl.

"The GoDaddy Bowl has more financial backing than the New Orleans Bowl by the way."

That may be true, but every MT fan I know would choose to go back to New Orleans over Mobile any day. Not just because we won, but it was a better atmosphere, better stadium, better pre-game events, and better hosts!

Well, I'm sorry Dauphin Street was closed for the first time ever when you were in town. There are restaurants (good ones too) open every night in downtown mobile.

Understand that with South joining in football, please know that Mobile is more likely to retain the bowl.

my inlaws live in Mobile so I have a very good feel for the city. even so, I was surprised just how much the populace supports the GoDaddy.com Bowl. I'm sorry you had a bad time MTalum09, but MY experience was very positive...even if we did lose.

Kind of funny though, Troy has lost once in New Orleans and one in Mobile, and both were incredible games. I hate we had to lose 'em, but the way both were played I'm not too broke up over them. Amazing amazing match-ups that came down to two missed FGs in overtime for us.

(05-11-2012 01:33 PM)Tom in Lazybrook Wrote:  

(05-11-2012 01:15 PM)MTalum09 Wrote:  If GoDaddy doesn't move the location of their bowl, they might as well just drop it. Absolutely the WORST stadium and bowl I've ever been to. And yes, it even topped Detroit and the Little Caesars Bowl.

Funny..seems like everyone else had a good time in Mobile. The GoDaddy Bowl has more financial backing than the New Orleans Bowl by the way.

Yes, our stadium is old.

Had a great time there. Looking forward to going back.

The stadium was not good. I agree that they need to keep the restaurants open AFTER the game. Transportation to the stadium was badly underestimated. Some restaurants ran out of food and drink....they didn't expect stAte to show up in those numbers.

But the glitches were made up for by the atmosphere, food, and people. If they can get those glitches fixed it will be awesome.

(05-11-2012 01:44 PM)MTalum09 Wrote:  That may be true, but every MT fan I know would choose to go back to New Orleans over Mobile any day. Not just because we won, but it was a better atmosphere, better stadium, better pre-game events, and better hosts!

Absolutely untrue. I loved Mobile. Yes, the stadium isn't the greatest, but the GoDaddy.com Bowl is a very well run event and the festivities in the days leading up to the game were light years ahead of the NOLA Bowl. Of course New Orleans is more fun as a city, but they don't cater to the game like Mobile does. I had a great time in Mobile.

(05-11-2012 11:48 AM)arkstfan Wrote:  

(05-01-2012 01:43 PM)HuskieJohn Wrote:  Other than getting a secondary tie in I don't see any additional bowls for the Sun Belt or MAC. I actually see CUSA and MWC losing 1 ea at least.

I fully expect CUSA to lose the Liberty and Beef O'Brady.

The only way CUSA loses Beef O'Brady is because the game goes out of business (very possible if the 7 win rule is implemented).

You can be certain that the SBC will not be picking up a bowl in Tampa now that FIU is out the door and and FAU possibly as well.