Bowling Green State University Athletics
Ask The AD -- Dec. 17, 2007
December 17, 2007 | General
Dec. 17, 2007
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (BGSUFalcons.com) - Bowling Green State University Assistant Vice President/Director of Athletics Greg Christopher answers a few of the many questions that have been submitted to BGSUFalcons.com. Here is the latest installment ...
Q: How much input does the athletic department or the conference have in the three football bowl assignments?
Matt in Shelbyville, Ind.
A: Here's some background on the MAC's bowl process: the MAC currently has three bowl partnerships - the GMAC Bowl, the Motor City Bowl and the International Bowl. The GMAC and Motor City Bowls alternate annually on the opportunity to select first (this year, the GMAC Bowl had first choice).
While the bowls confer with the various conference offices (MAC, Big Ten, C-USA and Big East), their selection committees make the choices on which teams will receive invitations.
Within the MAC, our guidelines state that the two division winners are protected with bowl opportunities (provided they are eligible after the championship game ... which occurred this year with Miami). This allows one at-large MAC team to be assured a bowl slot each year.
As a conference, we are fortunate to have three bowl partnerships and are happy with the three games. Each offers a different experience for fans and teams. Just a few years ago, the MAC had only one or two bowl tie-ins and deserving teams stayed at home in December. Looking at this year's college football landscape, an example of this is the Sun Belt Conference's Troy. The Trojans missed out on a bowl trip even though they finished 8-4 with a win over Oklahoma State. The New Orleans Bowl takes the Sun Belt champion (FAU), but that's the only guaranteed tie-in the conference has right now.
Q: What was the logic scheduling the Akron game on Friday night, when a lot of area high school football teams were in the playoffs?
Jon in Bowling Green
A: The choice was ESPN's, not BGSU or the MAC. ESPN pays the MAC a rights fee in order to televise a certain number of football games each fall. The network then selects the games it wishes to broadcast and places them on one of their platforms. There are certain parameters we have established within the conference to limit the number of mid-week, Friday and 12 noon games a team will play. As such, I don't believe we will host a Friday night game next year.
