Pac-10 to Change Bowl Lineup

SAN DIEGO —  The Pacific 10 Conference athletic directors agreed in principle Thursday to send their second-place football team to the Holiday Bowl for the next four years.

Among the significant details still to be worked out before a deal is finalized is securing an opponent for the Pac-10 team. Bowl officials would like to have the choice between the champion of the Western Athletic Conference--which will change dramatically next year--and the third-place team from the Big 12.

“Our guys are very enthusiastic about it,” Pac-10 assistant commissioner Jim Muldoon said after the athletic directors agreed via conference call to pursue the Holiday Bowl deal.

A commitment from the Pac-10 was necessary before talks with the other conferences could get serious, Holiday Bowl executive director John Reid said.

The Holiday Bowl last month terminated its agreement with the Cotton Bowl, WAC, Pac-10 and Big 12, citing a clause that allowed any of the parties to back out if the Bowl Alliance was dissolved. The alliance has been replaced by the Bowl Championship Series, which includes the Rose Bowl.

Under the old agreement, the Cotton Bowl got first pick between the Pac-10 runner-up and the WAC champion. The team left over then faced the third choice from the Big 12 in the Holiday Bowl.

With the WAC scheduled to split in half next year, the Holiday Bowl wanted to make sure it could be affiliated with the eight teams that are breaking away. The breakaway eight, considered to be more attractive draws, includes San Diego State.

“One thing that is absolutely certain is that whatever we do, San Diego State will be protected,” Reid said. “We will have access to them. They would have to be a deserving team, presumably the conference champion. That would imply it would be the breakaway WAC.”

Affiliating with the Holiday Bowl makes sense geographically for the Pac-10. Last year’s runner-up was UCLA.

Reid said the Holiday Bowl will significantly increase its payout, which was $1.4 million per team last year. By comparison, the Cotton Bowl payout was $2 million per team.

“We’re not there, but we’re headed in that direction,” Reid said.

Muldoon said the Cotton Bowl has been good to the Pac-10.

“It’s more of a thing with the Holiday Bowl kind of aggressively pursuing this concept and our people agreeing with it,” he said.

Losing an affiliation with a New Year’s Day bowl wasn’t that big of a deal, Muldoon said.

“New Year’s Day in a lot of ways means clutter,” he said. “Once you get seven games that day, you’re better off with your own niche some other day.”

The Holiday Bowl will be alone in prime time on Dec. 30 and will be broadcast by ESPN.

Three Pac-10 teams have played in the Holiday Bowl since its inception in 1978, and all three have lost.