The NCAA Postseason Football
Licensing Subcommittee has approved licenses for two new bowl games to be
played at the end of the 2008 season.
By Eric Geier
As if there already weren’t enough
excuses to ditch your wife of girlfriend to go out and watch football with the guys,
there are two more. That’s right; two new bowl games will be played at the end
of 2008, adding to the already excessive line-up we encounter at the end of the
regular college football season. The first new bowl game is the St. Petersburg
Bowl, which will be played between December 20-23 at Tropicana Field in Florida. The match-up
will include a Big East team facing off against a Conference USA team.
Tropicana Field is home to the Tampa Bay Rays and the domed field has seen a
variety of events, but never a college football game. The game will be owned
and operated by ESPN Regional Television, which will make it one of the few
games with a name that doesn’t make me shake my head in disgust, like I do when
I hear ‘Roady’s Humanitarian Bowl’ or the ‘PetroSun Independence Bowl’ to name
just a couple.
The second bowl game to be approved
is the “Congressional Bowl,” which will be played in Washington D.C.
and presented by the Washington D.C. Bowl Committee. Where the game will be played has yet to be
decided, but next week it is believed the site will be announced, either Nationals Park or RFK Stadium will be chosen to
host the game. The game will take place December 20th, with Navy
facing an ACC opponent. It will be the first college football game to be held
within the confines of D.C. Though they have been approved for play in 2008,
they will have to apply again, like every other bowl, the following year to get
re-approved. The Congressional Bowl Committee hopes to have Army in the bowl
for 2009. Sean Metcalf and Marie Rudolph had been working for 17 months to
bring a bowl game to D.C. Now that their dream has finally become a reality,
Metcalf expressed his feelings, saying, “I'm not entirely sure it's sunk in yet. I
don't think it will until we get the official letter from the NCAA . . .
There's an old saying that I'm probably going to butcher, but it goes something
like, 'Never underestimate what two committed people can make happen.' "