LR bowl possibility, not done deal
NEW ORLEANS — Discussions have picked up against regarding a potential bowl game in Little Rock, but that’s it for now.
Sun Belt Conference Commissioner Karl Benson acknowledged Wednesday that the league is still considering a tie-in to a bowl game at Little Rock’s War Memorial Stadium, but that no oral or signed agreements exist with another league to provide an opponent, a title sponsor or a television network.
“I’ve been very bullish on the possibility of a bowl game in Little Rock and continue to be,” Benson said. “There have been preliminary discussions, but that’s about it.”
The Jonesboro Sun reported Wednesday that a bowl game at War Memorial Stadium would be played between the Sun Belt and the American Athletic Conference perhaps as early as this year and that an announcement is expected next week.
Benson called the report “very, very premature” and said Wednesday there are “no signed agreements, no agreements whatsoever.”
Kevin Crass, chairman of the War Memorial Stadium Commission, also said talks have not progressed to where an announcement is imminent.
“I am very much in the loop, and I don’t [expect an announcement],” Crass said. “I hope it happens.”
The Sun Belt and the Mid-American conferences came close to a Little Rock bowl agreement two years ago. But the MAC decided instead to latch on to a bowl game in Montgomery, Ala., called the Camellia Bowl that was owned by ESPN Events. Bowling Green beat South Alabama 33-28 in the first Camellia Bowl played in December.
Arkansas State Athletic Director Terry Mohajir said he is supportive of the potential bowl game.
“Having a fifth bowl tie-in helps the entire league,” he said.
Benson said he has remained interested in Little Rock as a bowl partner because of the stadium and its proximity to the league’s most western members. Texas State was 7-5 but did not receive a bowl bid in 2014.
“It’s a great stadium, and it’s in the Sun Belt footprint,” Benson said.
The Sun Belt had three bowl tie-ins last season. Louisiana-Lafayette played in the New Orleans Bowl, Arkansas State played in the GoDaddy Bowl in Mobile, Ala., and South Alabama in the Camellia Bowl. The Sun Belt will have four bowl tie-ins starting in 2015 with the creation of the Cure Bowl, which will be played between a Sun Belt team and an American Athletic Conference team in Orlando, Fla.
Benson said no request to the NCAA has been made to approve a title sponsor, which he said is the only approval needed from the NCAA. Other than that, two leagues, a stadium and a television network is about all that is needed.
Can all that be done in time for a game this December?
Benson said yes, but that nothing has been decided yet.
“There have been bowl games that have been created and launched in less than a year,” Benson said. “So it’s not impossible to think that it could happen in 2015.”