Cotton pickin' a new home?
Bowl game may move to Arlington in a bid to earn BCS status.
By Randy Riggs
By Kirk Bohls
http://www.statesman.com/horns/conte...2/7cotton.html
Wednesday, December 07, 2005
The Cotton Bowl football game, for which the venerable stadium at the Texas state fairgrounds is named, is considering leaving Dallas and heading to the suburbs for a possible entry into the exclusive Bowl Championship Series club.
The bowl game isn't alone. Officials at the universities of Texas and Oklahoma expect to make a decision next month on whether to move their annual rivalry game from the Dallas stadium to their home campuses.
Dallas officials have unveiled a plan to expand and renovate the Cotton Bowl, but they say the plan hinges on the commitment of major college games, including the Cotton Bowl and the Texas-Oklahoma matchup, to stay there. Officials for both are considering moving.
Several people close to the situation, including three Cotton Bowl officials, told the Austin American-Statesman that the Cotton Bowl game probably will move to the Dallas Cowboys' new home in Arlington. Construction is expected to begin early next year, with completion in 2009.
The Cowboys' $650 million facility with a retractable roof might make the bowl game more appealing to the BCS because of current uncertainty about the Sugar Bowl. That BCS bowl was forced from its home at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans because of damage from Hurricane Katrina and has temporarily relocated in Atlanta's Georgia Dome.
"It's my assumption (the Cotton Bowl game) will pull out (of Dallas) to be indoors because they want to be a BCS bowl," said DeLoss Dodds, the University of Texas athletics director. "I think they have a shot in a new stadium, the Sugar Bowl being what it is."
A Cotton Bowl official who asked not to be identified because talks are ongoing added, "I think (moving to Arlington) is an 80-20 done deal. But anything is possible."
Rick Baker, president of the Cotton Bowl, said Tuesday that the bowl is in no rush to make a decision on the game's future site. But Baker did note that Stephen Jones, the Cowboys' executive vice president and son of team owner Jerry Jones, is on the Cotton Bowl's board of directors.
"I don't know if we have an open invitation (to move to Arlington), but Jerry and Stephen have been very supportive and positive toward the Cotton Bowl," Baker said.
Baker said the Cotton Bowl hopes the BCS might explore adding a fifth bowl site. Under its new contract with its four bowls, each stadium will have not only its own game but, once every four years, the national championship contest a week later. The arrangement begins when the Fiesta Bowl is host to two games next season.
"We are hopeful that they will re-examine the benefits of having five games in four cities vs. five games in five cities," Baker said.
BCS Coordinator Kevin Weiberg, commissioner of the Big 12 Conference, could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
Jeff Hundley, associate executive director of the Sugar Bowl, said it's unlikely that the BCS would add a fifth bowl site.
"That issue has already been addressed," he said. "It was considered, but in the end, given the concerns expressed by the title sponsors waiting five years for their opportunity to host the national championship, (BCS commissioners) saw the wisdom of keeping it as a four-game rotation."
Hundley added that the Sugar Bowl's BCS future "has never been in question, to our knowledge" and that the bowl hopes to return to Louisiana for next year's game, either in New Orleans or at Louisiana State University's stadium in Baton Rouge.
On Monday, representatives of the city-owned Cotton Bowl presented a proposal to the Dallas City Council for almost $50 million in renovations and expansion of the 75-year-old stadium. The plan calls for increasing the capacity by more than 16,000 seats, to 92,107.
Dallas Mayor Laura Miller has said the upgrades won't be made without long-term commitments from the college teams that annually play in the facility. In addition to the postseason bowl game and Texas-Oklahoma, the Cotton Bowl is host of Prairie View A&M -Grambling.
Texas-Oklahoma and the bowl game hold most of the cards. If one leaves, it would make it easier for the other to depart. People involved in the situation suggest that the two sides are waiting to see who makes the first move.
Baker discounts that.
"For us, there's no sense of urgency about making this decision," he said. "We've got some time to do really good research on what our future holds."
Dodds said he believes the University of Oklahoma wants to keep the game at the Cotton Bowl, while the Longhorns are studying their options. UT will send an engineering team to inspect the stadium on Dec. 20.
Talks "are ongoing," Dodds said. "We'll make a decision within 30 days. I think Oklahoma's commitment is to stay at the Cotton Bowl. (Dallas officials) are waiting on us."
Kenny Mossman, spokesman for the Oklahoma athletic department, said the Sooners have not made a decision.
"It's been our stance all along to allow the people in Dallas to present a plan," Mossman said. "Once they've done that and we've had a chance to review and discuss it, then we'll make a decision."
The Texas-OU game has been held at the Cotton Bowl since 1930. The teams have a contract to play at the stadium through 2008, but there is an escape clause that gives them an option to leave after the 2007 game.
The Longhorns and Sooners could switch to a home-and-home series on their campuses if they decide to leave Dallas.
If both Texas-Oklahoma and the bowl game elect to leave, it undoubtedly would signal the end of the stadium as a viable host for any significant game.
The collegiate Cotton Bowl game began in 1937. It long was regarded as one of the four pre-eminent New Year's Day bowls, along with the Sugar, Orange and Rose. But the Dallas bowl's prestige took a hit in 1994 when it was excluded from the ranks of the "first-string" bowls by the Tier I Bowl Alliance, which evolved into the BCS in 1998.
The Cotton Bowl's chances of regaining its elite status hinge in part on having an enclosed stadium because of the unpredictable Dallas weather in early January. The renovation proposals submitted to the Dallas City Council on Monday did not include a retractable roof.
"Until we get a covered stadium, we'll never get a BCS bowl," said one Cotton Bowl game official. "I think there's a real good chance with the new stadium. I believe the BCS would take a hard look at this. It'd be a good venue."