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ESPN to own, operate Las Vegas Bowl game

Wednesday, May 16, 2001 | 10:32 a.m.

Those who call the Las Vegas Bowl a Mickey Mouse football game will be right starting today.

An announcement has been planned for this afternoon that ESPN, which is owned by the Disney Corportation, is going to take over ownership and operation of the Las Vegas Bowl from the LVCVA starting with this year's Dec. 20 matchup between a Mountain West Conference team and possibly a representative from the Pac-10 Conference at Sam Boyd Stadium.

It is believed to be the first time that ESPN has taken over ownership of a bowl game. The all-sports TV network could still sell naming and sponsorship rights to the contest in the future.

Meanwhile, the LVCVA will still maintain an advisory committee for team selections and will receive advertising tradeouts on ESPN to be run during prime Big 10 and Big East football and basketball contests.

"I think the management skills and event prospective that an ESPN can provide will definitely help the game," Mountain West Conference commissioner Craig Thompson said this morning.

This year's Las Vegas Bowl X will be televised on ESPN2 cable. By Steve Guiremand

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