Conference USA Secures 4th Bowl Game
June 13, 2000
Conference USA, which is coming off its most successful football season, has just reached an agreement with the Motor City Bowl. Under the agreement, C-USA will send its fourth-place team to the bowl game played at the Pontiac Silverdome in Pontiac, MI beginning with the 2000 season to square off against the Mid-American Conference champion.
"We are pleased to be associated with the Motor City Bowl," C-USA commissioner Mike Slive told the media. "This fourth bowl provides additional postseason opportunities for our players.
"The addition of the Motor City Bowl and its close proximity to several of our schools provides the opportunity for our players to showcase their talents to a great football state like Michigan as well as to the rest of the nation."
Conference USA currently sends its league champion to the Liberty Bowl in Memphis, TN. The league also has ties with the two-year old Mobile Alabama and the new galleryfurniture.com Bowls.
In 1999 Southern Miss, East Carolina and Louisville all participated in post season bowls, while Houston, who was bowl eligible at 7-4, stayed home.
"We are very pleased to partner with Conference USA, " said George Perles, president and CEO of the Motor City Bowl. "C-USA has made great strides injust four years of conference football. And it offers a strong regional proximity with several schools within driving distance of the Silverdome and metro Detroit. This is the next step in the overall development of the bowl."
This will be the fourth year of the bowl, which has not had an affiliation with a second conference until now. Marshall has represented the MAC the previous three years of the game, winning the last two.
Louisville was Marshall's opponent for the game in 1998 and impressed bowl officials by bringing over 17,000 fans to the game.
"Now, we will have an equally aggressive partner in C-USA to supportefforts to market and develop the event year-round, said MAC Commissioner Rick Chryst. "Given today's bowl landscape, it makes sense - and we're confident that our two conferences can create an exciting and entertaining matchup for college football fans inthe region."
Conference USA has been believed to be the leader for the second affiliation for the Hoosier Bowl, which begins play in 2001. Currently, the MAC second place team is the only tie-in with the bowl which will be played at the Hoosier Dome in Indianapolis.
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