[miaht82]

Different topic, same building:
from bizjournal.com
Alamo Bowl is working to bring higher-ranked teams to San Antonio

Valero Alamo Bowl President and CEO Derrick Fox says the organization is talking to multiple conferences about potential affiliation deals that would kick in after the Jan. 2, 2010, game. Fox says that process has included discussions with the Pac-10 Conference about sending its No. 2 team to San Antonio.

There are no guarantees that the Alamo Bowl will close on a deal with the Pac-10 and move up the bowl ladder. But such a feat, says San Antonio Convention & Visitors Bureau Director Scott White, could raise the city’s sports profile and create huge opportunities for its multibillion-dollar hospitality industry.

The Alamo Bowl currently has conference affiliation agreements with the Big Ten and Big 12. San Antonio is supposed to get each conference’s fourth- or fifth-best teams on a rotating basis. But if either conference has a team qualify for a Bowl Championship Series game, the Alamo Bowl can get stuck with a sixth-best squad.

Alamo Bowl officials are working now to try and bring higher-ranked collegiate football teams to San Antonio.

“We’d like to move up,” Fox says. “We are exploring the opportunities that would allow us to do that.”

The inaugural Alamo Bowl kicked off in 1993 with teams from the Pac-10 and Big Ten conferences. California whipped Iowa 37-3 in that inaugural game.

Is the Pac-10 interested in re-connecting with the Alamo Bowl?

“They really initiated some conversations after the last bowl season,” says Fox about Pac-10 officials’ interest in San Antonio. “They asked if we had an interest in talking to them. We said, ‘Sure.’ ”

Jim Muldoon is associate commissioner of communications and football administration for the Pac-10. “We are in talks with San Antonio,” he says. “There is definitely an interest in San Antonio and the Alamo Bowl.”

Muldoon says the Pac-10 believes that the Alamo Bowl has “grown into one of the better bowls in the country.”

The Pac-10 currently sends its No. 2 pick to the Holiday Bowl in San Diego.

“I think the Alamo Bowl can certainly compete on that level,” Muldoon adds.

Visitor impact
Higher team picks typically require higher payouts from bowl organizers. Fox says Alamo Bowl officials are willing to step up if the deal makes sense for San Antonio. And this is the time to make a move, with current conference affiliation deals set to expire after the next Alamo Bowl.

White would like to see the Pac-10 bring its No. 2 team to San Antonio.

“Pac-10 cities are target markets for San Antonio and they align with our long-term strategic plans,” White explains. “Our research indicates that cities on the West Coast have positive impressions of San Antonio. However, our limited marketing budget does not allow us the opportunity to effectively target these destinations.”

White adds, “If we are going to grow and diversify our market share, we need to venture into new markets,”

Rick Hill is vice president of marketing and communications for the Alamo Bowl. He says the event is more than a football game.

“An important component for us is to bring that visitor impact,” he explains.

Higher-ranked teams could draw a higher level of interest from fans and the media. And that means more eyes are focused on San Antonio. But moving up the bowl hierarchy won’t be easy.

The Alamo Bowl has set attendance and TV viewer ratings over the years with lesser teams. And those accomplishments may have negatively impacted previous efforts to seek a bigger bowl opportunity.

“Our success worked against us in the last (conference) negotiations because we were hitting home runs with (lower) picks,” Hills says.

More challenges
Even if Alamo Bowl organizers can convince a conference like the Pac-10 to send a higher-ranked team to San Antonio, there is still the challenge of convincing a second conference to make a similar commitment.

“It’s not as linear as some people believe,” says Fox about the process of moving up.

Ideally, Alamo Bowl officials say they would like to extend their affiliation pact with the Big 12.

“It has really been our anchor conference,” Fox says. “It makes sense to continue that relationship, to grow it.”

But extending that relationship with the Big 12 could ultimately depend on conference officials’ willingness to send a better team pick to San Antonio.

However all of this plays out, Fox says conference and bowl officials across the board would like to have some deals in place by the start of the 2009 college football season, which begins in a few weeks.

“There is a lot of shuffling of the landscape in play right now,” Fox says. “One move will effect other bowls and conferences.”

How soon might the dust settle?

“We’re getting closer to the end of the tunnel and to what might be coming out of it,” Fox says, convinced that the lure of San Antonio is the Alamo Bowl’s ace in the hole.

“We’re very fortunate that we have a great city, a great destination,” Fox says. “There has been a lot of interest from multiple conferences to come to San Antonio. But it’s of matter of which conference and which picks are right for us.”

White says better teams equals a bigger impact for San Antonio.

“If the Alamo Bowl can improve its match-up, it should translate into higher-ranked teams, which could translate into a more excited fan base with a greater propensity to travel,” White says.

But while Alamo Bowl officials have their hands full with the conference affiliation discussions, they have another important task at hand. The Alamo Bowl’s title sponsor agreement with San Antonio-based Valero Energy Corp. is also set to expire after the January 2010 game.

Says Fox, “Once we get the conference deals finished, then the next step is to sit down with Valero and talk in earnest about a go-forward (plan).”