Things just aren't looking too good for them right now. ......Darn. :icon_wink
SHREVEPORT, La. -- The Independence Bowl was not among the bowl tie-ins announced by the Big 12 Conference last week, despite the efforts of bowl officials.
"It would have been my preference to announce all of our four-year agreements at one time, but some of the bowls and other conferences were anxious to get on with it, so we thought it better to provide you with the agreements we have up to this point," Big 12 commissioner Kevin Weiberg said.
Those agreements announced Friday go down to a sixth selection among bowl-eligible Big 12 teams.
Weiberg said the league wants to add one or two more bowls to its 2006-09 lineup.
"We would like to add at least one additional agreement. We're in those discussions now," Weiberg said. "It would be our hope to add at least one additional spot."
Those additions would come from the Independence, Forth Worth and Houston Bowls. The I-Bowl had the highest payout ($1.2 million) last year among those three bowls.
Weiberg said he would like to complete the final additions "as quickly as we can. This has been a long process; I hope it doesn't go much further."
Independence Bowl officials remain cautiously confident, said executive director Missy Setters.
"We have nothing to tell us anything otherwise at this point," Setters said.
As it is, the Fiesta Bowl and/or the Bowl Championship national championship game would have the first selection among Big 12 teams. The Cotton Bowl follows at No. 2 with the Holiday Bowl at the No. 3 selection and the Alamo Bowl at No. 4. The Gator Bowl and Sun Bowl will share the No. 5 over a four-year period and the Insight Bowl is at No. 6 in the selection process.
In an arrangement with the Sun and Gator bowls, the Big 12 is guaranteed a spot each season in eon of the bowls, with no more than two appearances in either game over the four years of the contract. The Gator Bowl has the option to select a Big 12 team in the first two years of the agreement, but if it elects not to do so it must take a Big 12 team in the final two years.
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Originally Posted by glm47
