Spin Posted August 19, 2013 Report Share Posted August 19, 2013 MAC ANNOUNCES CREATION OF CAMELLIA BOWL IN 2014; MONTGOMERY, ALA-BASED BOWL OWNED & OPERATED BY ESPN MAC vs. Sun Belt matchup to begin in 2014 college football bowl season For Immediate Release—Monday, August 19, 2013 Cleveland, Ohio – The Mid-American Conference announced today the creation of the Camellia Bowl, a newly created bowl game to begin in 2014, which will be based in Montgomery, Alabama, owned and operated by ESPN. The Camellia Bowl will feature a MAC bowl eligible football program to face a member of the Sun Belt Conference for the next six consecutive football seasons (2014-2019) in a pre-Christmas game televised nationally by ESPN or ESPN2. “The Mid-American Conference is proud to partner in the creation of the Camellia Bowl beginning with the 2014 season,” said Dr. Jon Steinbrecher, Mid-American Conference Commissioner. “The historic Cramton Bowl will be a great venue for our student-athletes and fans. Additionally, Montgomery’s entertainment district will provide a fun and lively bowl experience for all involved. I want to thank all parties involved for their diligence in creating this event, especially Montgomery mayor Todd Strange.” The Camellia Bowl will be played in the Cramton Bowl, a 25,000 seat stadium that has undergone significant renovations over the last several years, including a new press box facility, locker rooms and VIP hospitality accommodations. Beginning in the 2014 bowl season, the Camellia Bowl will be the third bowl game where the MAC is a primary bowl partner. The MAC has long-term primary contracts with the Go Daddy Bowl (based in Mobile, Ala.) through the 2017 season and Famous Idaho Potato Bowl (based in Boise, Ida.) through the 2019 season Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZachTheZip Posted August 19, 2013 Report Share Posted August 19, 2013 Yuck. As a replacement for Detroit, this is pretty awful. Hopefully, the MAC gets their rumored 4th bowl in Boca Raton vs C-USA. As a 4th option behind Mobile, Boise, and Boca, it's fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zipmeister Posted August 19, 2013 Report Share Posted August 19, 2013 MAC ANNOUNCES CREATION OF CAMELLIA BOWL IN 2014; MONTGOMERY, ALA-BASED BOWL OWNED & OPERATED BY ESPN MAC vs. Sun Belt matchup to begin in 2014 college football bowl season For Immediate Release—Monday, August 19, 2013 Cleveland, Ohio – The Mid-American Conference announced today the creation of the Camellia Bowl, a newly created bowl game to begin in 2014, which will be based in Montgomery, Alabama, owned and operated by ESPN. The Camellia Bowl will feature a MAC bowl eligible football program to face a member of the Sun Belt Conference for the next six consecutive football seasons (2014-2019) in a pre-Christmas game televised nationally by ESPN or ESPN2. “The Mid-American Conference is proud to partner in the creation of the Camellia Bowl beginning with the 2014 season,” said Dr. Jon Steinbrecher, Mid-American Conference Commissioner. “The historic Cramton Bowl will be a great venue for our student-athletes and fans. Additionally, Montgomery’s entertainment district will provide a fun and lively bowl experience for all involved. I want to thank all parties involved for their diligence in creating this event, especially Montgomery mayor Todd Strange.” The Camellia Bowl will be played in the Cramton Bowl, a 25,000 seat stadium that has undergone significant renovations over the last several years, including a new press box facility, locker rooms and VIP hospitality accommodations. Beginning in the 2014 bowl season, the Camellia Bowl will be the third bowl game where the MAC is a primary bowl partner. The MAC has long-term primary contracts with the Go Daddy Bowl (based in Mobile, Ala.) through the 2017 season and Famous Idaho Potato Bowl (based in Boise, Ida.) through the 2019 season For just a second I thought there was a possibility we could go bowling against Texas from the old SWC. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZachTheZip Posted August 20, 2013 Report Share Posted August 20, 2013 Looking more and more like the MAC is going to have a fourth bowl in Boca Raton, and possibly a fifth in Charleston, SC. People complain about the number of bowls, but the MAC is trying to ensure that they don't have 8-4 teams left sitting at home. I think that adding these bowls might create a tipping point where they tighten up the requirements to go to a bowl. First thing they can do is get rid of any loophole that allows teams with a losing record to go bowling, and then also require a .500 or better conference record. Say goodbye to those BCS teams that play four cupcakes out of conference and then only get two conference wins to sneak into a bowl. Ultimately, that benefits the MAC. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZachTheZip Posted August 21, 2013 Report Share Posted August 21, 2013 ESPN "sources" tell ESPN that ESPN has created a bowl to be broadcast on ESPN between the MAC and C-USA. It will be played in the Bahamas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mbalsinger Posted August 21, 2013 Report Share Posted August 21, 2013 IDK if it's just me...but these bowl games seem out of control. A MAC team playing in Alabama? Who on earth down there is going to go to that game? And way to snub the vast majority of MAC fans, being no where near the whole of the MAC. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZachTheZip Posted August 21, 2013 Report Share Posted August 21, 2013 IDK if it's just me...but these bowl games seem out of control. A MAC team playing in Alabama? Who on earth down there is going to go to that game? And way to snub the vast majority of MAC fans, being no where near the whole of the MAC. Everything about the bowl in Montgomery is stupid, but ESPN demands it. However, having a bowl in Alabama has worked for the MAC. They've been playing the GoDaddy.com (Formerly GMAC) bowl in Mobile, AL since 2001 and I would say that it's been the MAC's most successful bowl in terms of winning, national recognition, TV ratings, and local support. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GJGood Posted August 21, 2013 Report Share Posted August 21, 2013 Love as much bowl exposure as possible for the MAC but would like to see greater diversity in potential opponents. I would hate to see too many of the MAC bowls be against only one or two conferences. Plus, if the MAC no longer gets a shot at the Big Ten in a bowl, there needs to be a bowl created that would match the MAC Champ against a good, if not great, team from a current BCS conference. Personally I'd love a MAC vs. Pac-12 bowl for more exposure out west but I know that is probably a pipe dream. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MDZip Posted October 7, 2013 Report Share Posted October 7, 2013 Looks like it's official. The MAC will have additional bowl opportunities. The five non-BCS leagues have banded together to make three more bowls. The Miami Bowl, created by the American Athletic Conference, is expected to be held at Marlins Park, home of the Miami Marlins. The American Athletic will be the "anchor" conference, and its opponent would come from the other four non-power leagues, a source said. In August, ESPN reported that the Bahamas Bowl will be held at Thomas Robinson Stadium and would be the first postseason bowl played outside the United States since the International Bowl in Toronto (2007-10). A news conference will be held Oct. 14 to officially announce the Bahamas Bowl. All five non-power leagues will rotate in the game. The Boca Raton Bowl will feature teams from Conference USA, MAC and the American Athletic. The game will be held at FAU Stadium on the Florida Atlantic campus. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spin Posted October 7, 2013 Author Report Share Posted October 7, 2013 Hell why don't we just have our own playoffs between the non-power conferences? Do we have to follow the same bowl game BS the power conferences do? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Z.I.P. Posted October 8, 2013 Report Share Posted October 8, 2013 Looks like it's official. The MAC will have additional bowl opportunities. The five non-BCS leagues have banded together to make three more bowls. The Miami Bowl, created by the American Athletic Conference, is expected to be held at Marlins Park, home of the Miami Marlins. The American Athletic will be the "anchor" conference, and its opponent would come from the other four non-power leagues, a source said. In August, ESPN reported that the Bahamas Bowl will be held at Thomas Robinson Stadium and would be the first postseason bowl played outside the United States since the International Bowl in Toronto (2007-10). A news conference will be held Oct. 14 to officially announce the Bahamas Bowl. All five non-power leagues will rotate in the game. The Boca Raton Bowl will feature teams from Conference USA, MAC and the American Athletic. The game will be held at FAU Stadium on the Florida Atlantic campus. "Besides the new bowls in the Bahamas, Boca Raton, Miami and Montgomery, another new game will be played in Detroit between the Big Ten and ACC in 2014. It will replace the Little Caesars Bowl, also held in Detroit." MAC I guess has to hope one of these two leagues doesn't have enough bowl eligible teams to fill the slot. However, I can't help but think there's no way there will be enough 6-win teams to fill 78 slots -- in fact, it's becoming nearly mathematically impossible. Have they (NCAA) already thrown in the towel and said anybody the bowl wants can play? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GP1 Posted October 8, 2013 Report Share Posted October 8, 2013 Hell why don't we just have our own playoffs between the non-power conferences? Because, that would make sense. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnnyzip84 Posted October 8, 2013 Report Share Posted October 8, 2013 Every time this thread gets bumped, I am ever so briefly excited about the return of the old Southwest Conference. Now that was a crazy league. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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