There is no name, title sponsor or television network yet, but a local coordinating committee has taken its biggest steps toward bringing a college football bowl game to Little Rock.
A group consisting of community leaders from Little Rock and North Little Rock submitted to the NCAA on Wednesday an application seeking approval for a bowl game to be played in December at War Memorial Stadium. If approved, the game will feature teams from the Sun Belt and American Athletic conferences and will be played in front of a national television audience.
Road trip
• Commissioners of the Sun Belt Conference and the American Athletic Conference each said a proposed Little Rock bowl game would be ideal for the teams in the western half of their leagues. Of the 23 teams that could be selected for the bowl, nine are located less than 500 miles from War Memorial Stadium.
SCHOOL;MILES
Arkansas State;136*
Memphis;147^
La.-Monroe;176*
Tulsa;272^
SMU;321^
La.-Lafayette;357*
Tulane;430^
Houston;435^
South Alabama;440*
Troy;515*
Texas State;542*
Georgia State;552*
Cincinatti;624^
Appalachian State;689*
Georgia Southern;727*
South Florida;970^
East Carolina;973^
Central Florida;973^
New Mexico State;994^
Navy;1,055^
Temple;1,157^
Connecticut;1,276^
Idaho;2,033*
*Sun Belt Conference member
^American Athletic Conference member
The step signifies the closest War Memorial Stadium has come to a bowl game, a venture that gained steam two years ago before failing but picked up again in December.
"The main thing that the NCAA wants is two supportive conferences," said Rex Nelson, spokesman for the coordinating committee. "I can assure you that both the American and the Sun Belt conferences are very supportive of this."
A statement from the committee released Wednesday said the NCAA should make its decision for approval in May. If approved it will be the fifth bowl game attached to the Sun Belt Conference, of which Arkansas State is a member.
The group still needs to finalize a title sponsor, a name and a television contract, but commissioners of both leagues spoke optimistically Wednesday about those details getting ironed out, which will be announced after the bowl is approved. The title sponsor also will have to be approved by the NCAA.
The date of the game will be determined by the television contract, but Sun Belt Commissioner Karl Benson and AAC Commissioner Mike Aresco said it will likely be played before Christmas.
"I think now the expectation is that everything goes forward and the game is on the docket," Benson said. "I'm not expecting any issues."
Benson and Aresco met with local organizers March 17 in Little Rock. Aresco said the meeting was attended by about 20 people, a group that included Little Rock Mayor Mark Stodola, North Little Rock Mayor Joe Smith and representatives of both cities' chambers of commerce and visitor's bureaus. Aresco said they also met briefly with Gov. Asa Hutchinson.
"I think you'll have a sponsor, and I think it'll be an attractive game for TV," Aresco said. "So all of the pieces are in place. I expect it to happen, and I expect the people in Little Rock to support it."
Aresco said the group is speaking with ESPN and CBS Sports Network, which will televise the Cure Bowl in December in Orlando, Fla., between the two leagues, and could talk with NBC Sports Network and Fox Sports.
"We always look to [ESPN] first," Aresco said. "But you don't want to rule out anyone."
The Sun Belt and the AAC have agreed to a bowl game in Little Rock because it offers a reasonable destination for their westernmost teams to play in the postseason.
Arkansas State went to the GoDaddy Bowl in Mobile, Ala., for the fourth consecutive year last season, while Texas State wasn't invited to a bowl game despite qualifying with a 6-6 record.
The 12-member AAC stretches as far east as Connecticut and as far west as Southern Methodist in Dallas. Aresco said SMU, Houston, Tulsa, Tulane and Memphis would make geographic sense for the Little Rock bowl, and that South Florida, Central Florida and Cincinnati would be good fits as well.
Benson said in December the Sun Belt thought another bowl to accommodate teams in the western half of the league was necessary after Texas State was left out of the bowl picture.
"I think it has been proven in recent years that games that have some type of regionality to it are the ones that attract the most fans," Benson said.
While both commissioners and Nelson said nothing is final -- "It's not a rubber stamp," Aresco said -- the effort is certainly further along than it was two years ago. Benson first acknowledged in May 2013 that the Sun Belt wanted a bowl game in Little Rock, and in June 2013 he and Mid-American Conference Commissioner Jon Steinbrecher met at War Memorial to discuss a pairing.
Those efforts fell apart when the MAC chose instead to join the Sun Belt for a game in Montgomery, Ala., which became known as the Camellia Bowl and is owned by ESPN Events Inc.
Those events might have set the table for the latest efforts. Aresco said his decision to connect his league with the bowl was cemented during his visit to Little Rock last month.
"It is evident that there is a lot of community support," Aresco said. "It will be supported, and our teams will support it. So I think it will be a good experience for everybody."
Sports on 04/02/2015