Deal close on 'Yankee Bowl' for late December
Photo credit: Getty Images | Fans cheer during Thursday's Yankees-Rangers game at Yankee Stadium.
Galleries
See the new Yankee Stadium
The Yankees continue to seek college football games in their new stadium and are close to signing a four-year agreement to host what is likely to be called the Yankee Bowl, persons familiar with the negotiations said.
When the deal is announced, with the first game to be played next season, it will bring the number of Division I (FBS) bowl games to 35.
The game will feature teams from the Big East and Big 12, but since those conference champions would receive invitations from more established bowls, marquee matchups are not expected at Yankee Stadium.
The participating conferences do not seem to mind. "If you are a college football fan and you could see Rutgers play Kansas, or West Virginia play Colorado, or Connecticut play Texas Tech, those are teams you don't see very often,'' Big East associate commissioner Nick Carparelli Jr. said.
Revenue produced from the game, to be played between Christmas and New Year's Day, would be shared between the schools and the Yankees, though the breakdown has not been determined. "We have a high level of interest in this,'' Big 12 spokesman Bob Burda said. "This would give us exposure in the largest media market in the United States and one of the largest in the world.''
The Yankees have been proactive in scheduling college football since hiring Mark Holtzman, the former NFL consumer products chief. Holtzman, who is charged with bringing in non-baseball revenue, inked a deal for Army to play Notre Dame next season. Army will also meet Rutgers, Air Force and Boston College in the future. Holtzman was unavailable for comment.
The Big East had tried to get what it would have called the Big Apple Bowl in a traditional football venue when the Jets were discussing a domed stadium in Manhattan. "Our desire to have a game in NYC dates back a few years,'' Nicholas said.
Discussions with New Jersey, where the Giants and Jets will share a new stadium, have not gained traction and Carparelli believes Yankee Stadium is a better alternative.
"The cachet of the Yankees and Yankee Stadium adds something,'' he said. "When a bowl game is new, if the stadium is too big a good crowd could look like a bad crowd. If we get 40,000 in Yankee Stadium that would be a pretty nice opening game. If we did that in the Meadowlands, it would be half full.''
