'MWC in Talks With Liberty Bowl' - - from a New Mexico newspaper (taken from Sun Belt board).



Excerpts from article:

When negotiations started last season for a new contract, the Liberty Bowl originally wanted the MWC to commit to a multiyear deal. The conference, however, wanted only a one-year deal that expired when ABC's contract with the BCS (expired ??) after 2005.

When Fox picked up the BCS contract, installing some stability in the structure of college football for the next four years, MWC athletic directors warmed to the idea of a multi-year contract with the Liberty Bowl, (Craig) Thompson said.

Now, however, the Liberty has backed off from any agreement, peddling its bowl to other conferences.

Still, Thompson said he estimated the chances of re-signing with the bowl are about 75 percent, maybe higher. He said he hoped they could come to an agreement by the season opener or shortly thereafter.

Thompson said the Las Vegas Bowl would take the MWC champion if the Liberty Bowl contract falls through.

crazed,

i just finished reading the charleston daily mail and it is still being reported that a BE vs SEC match up is going to happen. jack bozacyk or however you spell his name stated that "sources are saying a BE vs SEC match up is still in the works...da da da..." i don't know how true it is but if thompson was so sure about the LB why would he have Las Vegas Bowl as a back up. i bet the only thing that is holding the deal up between is what team from SEC would be willing to play.

just for conversation what if the deal is this the year that the #2 Big East team does not go to the Sun Bowl or Gator Bowl because ND receives the slot then the LB would take the #2 BE team. or if the #2 Big East team goes to either the Gator Bowl or Sun Bowl then ND plays a SEC team.

i don't know but to me two Non BCS conference playing each other in a million dollar plus bowl is just not going to happen. CUSA vs ACC in the LB is more appealing than CUSA vs MWC or CUSA vs BE. but a BE #2/ND vs SEC is more appealing than any other senerio.

we will see...

jtwvu87 Wrote:crazed,

i just finished reading the charleston daily mail and it is still being reported that a BE vs SEC match up is going to happen. jack bozacyk or however you spell his name stated that "sources are saying a BE vs SEC match up is still in the works...da da da..." i don't know how true it is but if thompson was so sure about the LB why would he have Las Vegas Bowl as a back up. i bet the only thing that is holding the deal up between is what team from SEC would be willing to play.

just for conversation what if the deal is this the year that the #2 Big East team does not go to the Sun Bowl or Gator Bowl because ND receives the slot then the LB would take the #2 BE team. or if the #2 Big East team goes to either the Gator Bowl or Sun Bowl then ND plays a SEC team.

i don't know but to me two Non BCS conference playing each other in a million dollar plus bowl is just not going to happen. CUSA vs ACC in the LB is more appealing than CUSA vs MWC or CUSA vs BE. but a BE #2/ND vs SEC is more appealing than any other senerio.

we will see...

i guess we'll see... there is also an article out of San Diego that indicates that the MWC champ will likely stay in the Liberty, but against an SEC opponent.

Basically, i think it boils down to this: there are several leagues in the mix, and nobody knows for sure what is going to happen.

wvucrazed Wrote:'MWC in Talks With Liberty Bowl' - - from a New Mexico newspaper (taken from Sun Belt board).



Excerpts from article:

When negotiations started last season for a new contract, the Liberty Bowl originally wanted the MWC to commit to a multiyear deal. The conference, however, wanted only a one-year deal that expired when ABC's contract with the BCS (expired ??) after 2005.

When Fox picked up the BCS contract, installing some stability in the structure of college football for the next four years, MWC athletic directors warmed to the idea of a multi-year contract with the Liberty Bowl, (Craig) Thompson said.

Now, however, the Liberty has backed off from any agreement, peddling its bowl to other conferences.

Still, Thompson said he estimated the chances of re-signing with the bowl are about 75 percent, maybe higher. He said he hoped they could come to an agreement by the season opener or shortly thereafter.

Thompson said the Las Vegas Bowl would take the MWC champion if the Liberty Bowl contract falls through.

That seems far from anything definitive to me.

BE #3 destroys the MWC champ in terms of television and fan in seat appeal most every year unless its a Utah season like last year. Only problem is when a team has a season like that they are BCS bound.

Even Mountain West fans don't have a ton of faith in Thompson. Thompson made the public statement that the Big East would lose their BCS bid and that conferences would be able to share their BCS bids, something along those lines, in the middle of expansion 2 years ago. Then he assumed that the Insight.com bowl would drop the Big East instantly and jump to the MWC. Now he is saying again that his conference is on par with the Big East and is in position to get a BCS bid. He seems like all talk right now.

wvucrazed Wrote:

jtwvu87 Wrote:crazed,

i just finished reading the charleston daily mail and it is still being reported that a BE vs SEC match up is going to happen.  jack bozacyk or however you spell his name stated that "sources are saying a BE vs SEC match up is still in the works...da da da..."  i don't know how true it is but if thompson was so sure about the LB why would he have Las Vegas Bowl as a back up.  i bet the only thing that is holding the deal up between is what team from SEC would be willing to play.

just for conversation what if the deal is this the year that the #2 Big East team does not go to the Sun Bowl or Gator Bowl because ND receives the slot then the LB would take the #2 BE team.  or if the #2 Big East team goes to either the Gator Bowl or Sun Bowl then ND plays a SEC team.

i don't know but to me two Non BCS conference playing each other in a million dollar plus bowl is just not going to happen.  CUSA vs ACC in the LB is more appealing than CUSA vs MWC or CUSA vs BE.  but a BE #2/ND vs SEC is more appealing than any other senerio. 

we will see...

i guess we'll see... there is also an article out of San Diego that indicates that the MWC champ will likely stay in the Liberty, but against an SEC opponent.

Basically, i think it boils down to this: there are several leagues in the mix, and nobody knows for sure what is going to happen.

I thought that article said that the MWC vs the SEC was one of the option being proposed?

Cat's_Claw Wrote:Even Mountain West fans don't have a ton of faith in Thompson. Thompson made the public statement that the Big East would lose their BCS bid and that conferences would be able to share their BCS bids, something along those lines, in the middle of expansion 2 years ago. Then he assumed that the Insight.com bowl would drop the Big East instantly and jump to the MWC. Now he is saying again that his conference is on par with the Big East and is in position to get a BCS bid. He seems like all talk right now.

Thompson is a guy who likes to take chances. He took a chance by not signing a multi year deal with the liberty thinking when abc's deal ran out with the bcs, that things would change and the MWC would be in the bcs somehow. Since that did not happen, he runs to the Liberty begging to be in now. But now the Liberty is exploring other options. A serious miscalculation on his part. The only way the MWC is going to be in the Liberty vs SEC, is if the MWC just takes any deal. Otherwise, I cant see MWC over CUSA in the Liberty.