Cotton Bowl Stadium could get another bowl
Posted: Thu Jun 18, 2009 9:27 amCotton Bowl Stadium could get another bowl
06:31 PM CDT on Wednesday, June 17, 2009
By GARY JACOBSON / The Dallas Morning News
[email protected]
Tom Starr, the former executive director of the Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl in Fort Worth, is working with Dallas officials to bring a new bowl to Cotton Bowl Stadium in Fair Park, perhaps as early as the 2010-11 bowl season, said Roland Rainey, stadium manager.
"We'd very much like to bring in a bowl game if we could," Rainey said Wednesday.
It could be an existing bowl or a newly created game, Rainey said, adding that Starr is also working on attracting another marquee regular-season college game to the renovated stadium, which can seat as many as 92,000 for football.
After more than 70 years at Fair Park, the Cotton Bowl Athletic Association has moved its annual game to the new Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, beginning with this coming bowl season.
Rainey praised Starr's background and connections.
"He already knows all the major players," Rainey said. "I think he's fairly far along in some of his planning."
Starr left the Armed Forces Bowl last month to start his own consulting company. In 2003, he helped launch the Fort Worth game, which is owned and operated by ESPN. He also worked in key management positions for the Sun Bowl in El Paso, the Freedom Bowl in Anaheim, Calif., and the Independence Bowl in Shreveport, La.
Starr acknowledged that he is working on bringing more college games to Fair Park. He characterized his talks as "preliminary" and "far from concrete" and said it would take at least a couple of years to get a new bowl because of conferences' contractual ties to other bowls.
"There is room for more good college games in the area," Starr said.
Paul Dyer, director of the city's park and recreation department, which has responsibility for Cotton Bowl Stadium, said other bowl developers have contacted stadium officials
"I'm very optimistic," Dyer said of getting a new bowl. "I don't think we'd have three or four groups contacting us if there weren't some merit to the idea."
In addition to the two traditional college games (Texas-Oklahoma and Grambling-Prairie View A&M) during the State Fair this season, Cotton Bowl Stadium is also hosting Texas A&M Commerce against Abilene Christian on Sept. 12 and Arkansas-Pine Bluff against Texas Southern on Nov. 28.
06:31 PM CDT on Wednesday, June 17, 2009
By GARY JACOBSON / The Dallas Morning News
[email protected]
Tom Starr, the former executive director of the Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl in Fort Worth, is working with Dallas officials to bring a new bowl to Cotton Bowl Stadium in Fair Park, perhaps as early as the 2010-11 bowl season, said Roland Rainey, stadium manager.
"We'd very much like to bring in a bowl game if we could," Rainey said Wednesday.
It could be an existing bowl or a newly created game, Rainey said, adding that Starr is also working on attracting another marquee regular-season college game to the renovated stadium, which can seat as many as 92,000 for football.
After more than 70 years at Fair Park, the Cotton Bowl Athletic Association has moved its annual game to the new Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, beginning with this coming bowl season.
Rainey praised Starr's background and connections.
"He already knows all the major players," Rainey said. "I think he's fairly far along in some of his planning."
Starr left the Armed Forces Bowl last month to start his own consulting company. In 2003, he helped launch the Fort Worth game, which is owned and operated by ESPN. He also worked in key management positions for the Sun Bowl in El Paso, the Freedom Bowl in Anaheim, Calif., and the Independence Bowl in Shreveport, La.
Starr acknowledged that he is working on bringing more college games to Fair Park. He characterized his talks as "preliminary" and "far from concrete" and said it would take at least a couple of years to get a new bowl because of conferences' contractual ties to other bowls.
"There is room for more good college games in the area," Starr said.
Paul Dyer, director of the city's park and recreation department, which has responsibility for Cotton Bowl Stadium, said other bowl developers have contacted stadium officials
"I'm very optimistic," Dyer said of getting a new bowl. "I don't think we'd have three or four groups contacting us if there weren't some merit to the idea."
In addition to the two traditional college games (Texas-Oklahoma and Grambling-Prairie View A&M) during the State Fair this season, Cotton Bowl Stadium is also hosting Texas A&M Commerce against Abilene Christian on Sept. 12 and Arkansas-Pine Bluff against Texas Southern on Nov. 28.
