After enduring another holiday season of mostly bad college football bowl games, Iíve been thinking about Houstonís own Texas Bowl.
Frankly, why bother with it?
As this recent University of Missouri release notes, Mizzou not only got its collective ass kicked by a feisty Navy team in the game, but the university also lost money in participating in the game even after cutting corners.
That Missouri lost money is not surprising given that the Texas Bowlís payout is among the most paltry of any of college footballís post-season bowl games.
The Texas Bowl pays out a total of $1.250 million, which puts the bowl game in the bottom third among the 34 bowl games in terms of payout (ìTier 3î in bowl genre). That compares to the $2.2 million and $3 million payouts that Tier 2 bowls such as the Alamo and Cotton Bowls pay to its participants and the $17 million that each of the BCS Bowl games pays to its participants.
Due to its limited payout, the Texas Bowl has no negotiating leverage in attempting to persuade conferences to send one of their better teams. Accordingly, they usually get the sixth or seventh best team from one of the major conferences.
Houstonís bowl game has always struggled for funding. Even back during the days of the Astro-Bluebonnet Bowl in the Astrodome, the folks running the bowl game have never been able to snare the big-fish title sponsor necessary to elevate the bowlís stature. The Houston Open golf tournament found itself in a similar position for years until it persuaded Shell to become the tournamentís title sponsor. Despite a few blips, the Shell Houston Open has become a solid second tier tournament on the PGA Tour schedule.
Whatís too bad about the Texas Bowlís problems is that it really could be a good bowl experience, at least on par with San Antonioís Alamo Bowl or Dallasí Cotton Bowl.
My old friend Dan McCarney, who currently is one of Urban Meyerís top assistants at Florida, coached Iowa State in the Texas Bowl several years ago. He said that the Reliant Park facilities were as good as any bowl game that he had ever seen ñ the teams used one locker room the entire week for their practices and the game. The teams loved not having to practice at a different site and then move to the stadium on gameday.
Moreover, the Houston business community routinely buys large blocks of tickets to the game (even if most of those tickets go unused). Finally, with the Johnson Space Center, the Medical Center, the Museum District, the Theater District and many fine restaurants and clubs, Houston certainly fits the bill of a place that would be a fun destination for a bowl game.
But whatís the purpose of promoting a bowl game that has mostly second-rate participants who view the game as a booby prize?
If the Texas Bowl canít find a title sponsor that would elevate the game at least to the second tier of bowl games, then itís time to pack it in.
There is nothing wrong with declining to waste time on being an afterthought.
Update: Kevin Whited passes along this Chronicle article from several years ago on Houstonís bowl history.