Fort Worth Bowl to feature C-USA, Big 12 teams
By Kyle Wittenbraker
Staff Reporter

The teams competing in the inaugural PlainsCapital Fort Worth Bowl could be announced by early December, said Tom Starr, the bowl’s executive director.

Starr said the possible candidates, which come from the Big 12 and Conference USA, will be narrowed down to three or four finalists by the end of November.

The Fort Worth Bowl will be Dec. 23.

He said the Mazda Tangerine Bowl, the EV1.net Houston Bowl and the Fort Worth Bowl will each get a Big 12 team based on what makes the most sense geographically.

He said the top four Big 12 teams not selected to a Bowl Championship Series game will be invited to the SBC Cotton Bowl Classic, the Pacific Life Holiday Bowl, the MasterCard Alamo Bowl and the Mainstay Independence Bowl, respectively.

Joining the Big 12 team in the Fort Worth Bowl will be a C-USA school. Starr said the conference champion receives an invitation to the AXA Liberty Bowl and the second place team goes to the GMAC Bowl. He said the next team will go to either the Fort Worth Bowl, the Sheraton Hawaii Bowl or the New Orleans Bowl.

“I think we’re doing good and progressing well,” Starr said. “We had a short track to run on this year.”
Starr said the Fort Worth Bowl will pay $750,000 to both representatives. He said the PlainsCapital Corporation, the bowl’s title sponsor, and ESPN own the bowl.

TCU Athletics director Eric Hyman said the bowl will benefit Fort Worth because it is an opportunity to bring people into town during a time when tourism is traditionally slow.

Hyman said although he would prefer the Frogs to play in the championship game every year, he thinks the chance to play a Big 12 school in the Fort Worth Bowl would benefit TCU.

“Some schools that haven’t been to a bowl for a while would be ecstatic playing a Big 12 school,” he said. “I think it would be great.”

Starr said his job is to oversee all operational aspects of the bowl. He said this is the fourth bowl he has worked on in 25 years and has been executive director of three bowls. His goal is for the Fort Worth Bowl to have the best hospitality committee in the country.

“It behooves both TCU and ESPN to have a very successful bowl,” Starr said.