Motor City Bowl signs with C-USA
The Motor City Bowl, Presented by General Motors, Daimler Chrysler and Ford, has signed an agreement with Conference USA to provide a bowl-eligible team to face the champion of the Mid-American Conference in the annual NCAA post-season holiday bowl game.
The two-year contract starts this year and continues through the 2001 NCAA football season.
Televised by ESPN, this year's game will be played at 4 p.m., Dec. 27 in the Pontiac Silverdome.
Herb Deromedi, CMU athletics director, believes the agreement is a positive one for the MAC and has potential for long-term success.
"This is a great agreement for the MAC and it creates a very positive situation," Deromedi said.
"There are good feelings around the MAC about the agreement. We now have a bowl in which we can promote a regional rivalry all year long."
During its first three years, the Motor City Bowl had an 'open' selection to play the MAC champion.
For the first time, the bowl has secured two conference contracts to create the regional rivalry.
"Conference USA has made tremendous strides in football the last few years," Deromedi said.
"With this agreement, there is a greater opportunity for the MAC to send an at-large team to another bowl game."
Conference USA, entering its fifth football season, has already provided one team to the bowl.
In 1998, Louisville lost to MAC champion Marshall 48-29.
Ken Hoffman, the bowl's Executive Director, believes that this is good timing for the agreement.
"With the increase to 25 bowls for 2000 and very likely 27 for 2001, the time has come to sign-on with a second conference partner," Hoffman said in a press release.
"We now have the ability to market the Motor City Bowl with two conferences that encompass 22 football-playing institutions. That should allow us to continue to improve the strong economic impact the bowl has had in the region."
The Motor City Bowl has been listed by the Metro Detroit Convention & Visitors Bureau as the number two event (in economic impact) in metro Detroit each of the last three years.
The bureau estimates $21 million, $23.6 million and
$24.6 million, respectively, are directly attributable to the bowl.*
"We are very pleased to partner with Conference USA," George Perles, President & CEO of the bowl said in a press release.
"Conference USA has made great strides in just four years of conference football and it offers a strong regional proximity with several schools within driving distance of the Silverdome and metro Detroit. This is the next step in the overall development of the bowl."
CMU Head Football Coach, Mike DeBord, was also happy with the bowl agreement aligning the two conferences.
"This is a great agreement for the MAC and gives the MAC champion a very worthy opponent," DeBord said.
"Creating the regional rivalry will give the MAC more exposure and publicity and its been exciting to see the bowl grow."
The bowl has sold an average of 50,000-plus tickets in its first three years, with in-house attendance averaging 40,000.
Last year's crowd of nearly 45,000 was the largest to date and ESPN ratings have been strong and significantly better than projected.
MAC champion Marshall has played in all three Motor City Bowls, winning the last two.
Last year the Thundering Herd defeated BYU, 21-3, to finish a perfect 13-0 and number 10 in the final national rankings.
Other Conference-USA bowl tie-ins include the AXA Liberty Bowl (Memphis), the GMAC Mobile Alabama Bowl and the inaugural galleryfurniture.com Bowl (Houston).
NOTE:
* Each year, the MDCVB uses the formula provided
by the International Association of Convention & Visitors Bureaus to calculate
the approximate economic impact of events in metro Detroit, adjusted to
the local market.
