Cotton Bowl eyeing BCS, if Dallas gets a domed stadium

[Cheesesteak]

March 12, 2004
SportsLine.com wire reports

DALLAS -- With the Bowl Championship Series ready to expand and the Dallas Cowboys pushing for a new stadium, Cotton Bowl organizers are hoping the time is right for their game to again become among the top showcases in college football.

The Cotton Bowl was left out of the original BCS structure because of its old, outdoor stadium, also called the Cotton Bowl. Now that the series is planning to add a fifth game, organizers want a proposed domed stadium in Dallas to be part of their bid.

Talks for such a facility already are under way between city leaders and the Cowboys. They're even focusing on the Fair Park area, where the Cotton Bowl is located.

At a news conference Friday, John Scovell -- son of game patriarch Field Scovell -- urged local officials to come up with a plan for voters to consider in November, in time for the bid application that's due in January. The BCS is expected to make its pick in early 2005.

"If we don't have a vote and a commitment to build a new stadium, then we will not be able to submit our proposal to the BCS," said Scovell, chairman of the Cotton Bowl Athletic Association's stadium committee.

"So the timing is the most strategic to us. That is critical to us. If it gets resolved in January or February or May, then we are out of the running. We need a new stadium for all this to work."

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has envisioned a complex that would include a stadium, hotel, retail stores and restaurants, plus an interactive museum. Price tags have ranged from $600 million to $1 billion. The public's share must be detailed before anything can go on the ballot.

"The next star we have to connect is the challenge to Dallas County to figure out the best financing method -- and do it soon," Scovell said. "There are a number of financing alternatives, but the primary one will require a referendum."

The Cotton Bowl stadium, which has hosted the Jan. 1 game for 68 years, was the home of the Cowboys their first 11 seasons before the team moved to partially domed Texas Stadium in Irving.

The Cotton Bowl was willing to use Texas Stadium in its initial BCS bid a decade ago, but they were left out, in part because the hole in the stadium's room left it vulnerable to the area's unpredictable weather during the first week in January.

Game officials already have been promised by the Cowboys that they could use the proposed stadium for their bowl, regardless of whether they make the BCS.

It also likely would become the site of the annual Texas-Oklahoma game in October. The schools agreed this week to keep the game in Dallas through 2008 and would love to see a domed stadium built in the area surrounding the State Fair of Texas.

The fifth BCS bowl is expected to start in January 2007. It's being added primarily to appease smaller schools who feel excluded from the current system, but it likely would become part of the rotation to host the national championship game.

The Orange, Sugar, Fiesta and Rose Bowls comprise the current rotation. Games in warm weather spots, and domed stadiums, are the front-runners for the fifth slot.

The Cotton Bowl, which for decades was considered one of the elite New Year's Day games, is hoping a stadium would be the clinching factor for a bid that also would focus on its tradition, strong sponsorship, location in a football-hungry area and strong reputation for hospitality.

The game currently pits teams from the Big 12 and Southeastern Conferences. The conference tie-ins expire the same time the Cotton Bowl hopes to join the BCS.