New, improved bowl is unveiled

Tim Graham

Thursday, Aug. 21, 1997 | 9:57 a.m.

The attendance was poor. The payouts were paltry. The teams were sub-par.

Since inception in 1992, the Las Vegas Bowl was a minor-league football game, pairing the champions of second-tier conferences.

The game's organizers claim this year will be different.

With a new commitment from the Western Athletic Conference and the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, Las Vegas Bowl VI features a renewed approach in obtaining higher status.

The organizers officially announced the changes Wednesday during a luncheon at the Las Vegas Convention Center. Las Vegas Bowl VI, sponsored by the LVCVA and Reno Air, will take place Dec. 20 at 2:30 p.m. at Sam Boyd Stadium and will be televised live on ESPN2.

"We feel the Las Vegas Bowl can become the premier college bowl game in the western United States," said associate WAC commissioner Jeff Hurd.

While the game certainly won't challenge the granddaddy of them all, the Rose Bowl, in terms of tradition or prestige, the Las Vegas Bowl has made several major improvements.

Instead of pairing the champions of the Big West and Mid-American conferences as it had since 1981, the Las Vegas Bowl (formerly the California Bowl) now will feature an at-large team against one from the WAC.

In response to the increased competition, each school now will be paid $850,000 as opposed to the old payout of $150,000. And while the game will remain the first of the bowl season, it now will be played on Saturday afternoons instead of Thursday nights.

The Las Vegas Bowl selection committee -- a five- to seven-person group to be assembled in the next two weeks -- will choose the WAC participant from the group of bowl-eligible teams that excludes the champion and another team. The WAC champion plays either in the Cotton or Holiday Bowls, while the Copper Bowl gets the second WAC selection. The Las Vegas Bowl then gets its pick.

The addition of the Las Vegas Bowl to the WAC's postseason stable was crucial for the conference. With the Cotton-Holiday and Copper tie-ins last year, only Brigham Young (Cotton) and Utah (Copper) went bowling. Left at home were Wyoming, which went 10-2 and finished the year ranked No. 22 in the nation, and San Diego State, which went 8-3.

"This game has importance to the WAC for a number of reasons, but primarily it's to increase bowl opportunities for our member institutions," said Hurd, noting the conference's three-year affiliation agreement.

"It's the first step in a longtime relationship with the LVCVA, and it helps to aid the growth and development of college football in Las Vegas."

The impetus to change the participants was twofold: the success of last year's inaugural WAC championship game, which was played at Sam Boyd in front of a capacity crowd, and the loss of the MAC to the fledgling Motor City Bowl.

The loss of the MAC was more of a boon than a blow to the Las Vegas Bowl. MAC teams were notorious for not bringing fans with them, as evidenced by the game's poor attendance, which never surpassed 16,000.

"We believe the teams we match up are ones that will travel well," LVCVA vice president of marketing Rossi Ralenkotter said. "The teams in the WAC have proven they have fans who travel and have a tradition of doing so."

According to Ralenkotter, his office already has been bombarded with requests from many conferences to be considered for the at-large slot. That selection also will be made by the committee.

"We've been receiving inquiries from every major conference," Ralenkotter said. "There's a heightened awareness for this game."

Tickets for Las Vegas Bowl VI, priced $15, $25, $40, $75 and $125, went on sale Wednesday.

In conjunction with Las Vegas Bowl VI, the Thomas & Mack Center will host a college basketball doubleheader afterward on ESPN, featuring UMass against Colorado followed by Syracuse vs. UNLV.