<span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>Big East nearing deal with Liberty Bowl</span>
<span style='color:gray'>By</span> <span style='color:blue'>Rob Biertempfel</span>
<span style='color:gray'>TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Friday, July 22, 2005</span>
The Big East is close to adding the Liberty Bowl to its collection of bowl game tie-ins, starting in 2006.
If the league also renews its deal with the Meineke Car Care Bowl, the Big East would be on the verge of reaching commissioner Mike Tranghese's goal of five postseason bids.
The league's new bowl lineup is expected to be announced next week. The final hurdle appears to be settling on the order in which two of the bottom three bowl games will select their teams.
"We told (bowl representatives) we had to get our second deal done, and then we'd begin talking about who's going to be in what spot," Tranghese said.
The Bowl Championship Series automatically gets the Big East champion. Last week, it was decided that the second pick will go to the Gator Bowl, which has a team-sharing arrangement with the Sun Bowl.
The fifth spot presumably would go to a proposed bowl in Toronto, which is awaiting NCAA approval in April.
That leaves the Liberty and Meineke bowls to jockey for the third and fourth picks.
"Our discussions have centered around us being the No. 3 pick," Liberty Bowl executive director Steve Ehrhart said Thursday. "We're not interested in picking fourth."
The Meineke Car Care Bowl currently has fourth pick among Big East teams, but executive director Will Webb reiterated that he hoped to improve that position.
"I don't want to jinx anything," Webb said. "We're talking, and we would love to be the No. 3 pick."
Two months ago, Webb said his bowl would consider offers from other conferences if it did not get the Big East's third pick.
Yesterday, he said the Meineke's offer to increase its payout -- which was $1.27 million per team in 2004 -- is still on the table.
"We still need to resolve our financial guarantee," Webb said. "We'd like to move north of that ($1.27 million) figure."
The Meineke Bowl, in Charlotte, N.C., has been around for just three years. The New Year's Eve matchup pits the Big East against the Atlantic Coast Conference.
Tuesday, during the Big East's preseason media day, Tranghese seemed confident he can close a deal with the Meineke Bowl.
"I think we will," Tranghese said. "We've got a lot of (teams) who could draw people there because of its geographic proximity."
Two of the three Meineke games were sellouts -- although Webb noted that Big East ticket sales were slightly off the past two years, when Pitt and league expatriate Boston College played in Charlotte.
The Big East wants to land the Liberty Bowl to replace the Insight, which opted for a deal with the Big Ten.
The Liberty, in Memphis, Tenn., is played on New Year's Eve and pays $1.5 million per team. The Southeastern Conference and Mountain West also are courting the Liberty for a deal.
Ehrhart attended the Big East's media day this week. During the event, Ehrhart huddled with Tranghese and also talked with Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt and athletic director Jeff Long.
"We're certainly very open to discussions with the Big East," Ehrhart said. "I think they've done a good job of pulling it together."
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