Holiday Bowl Could Be on Eve of Bigger Payout

The Holiday Bowl is a long way from taking on the Rose Bowl or Orange Bowl in terms of prestige and payout, but it does have designs on moving into a fancier neighborhood. Real soon.

Holiday Bowl executive director John Reid is hopeful the 1985 game will be played Dec. 31, with an increased paycheck of $650,000 for each participating team.

Past games were played on the Friday night before Christmas, a date that still has appeal for the independent network that has televised the Holiday Bowl.

But there is the possibility of a new television contract with a major network, Reid said.

Also under consideration are proposals to link the Holiday Bowl to the Cabrillo Classic, and another plan that would allow for inviting a host team other than the champion of the Western Athletic Conference.

As the conference champion, BYU has played in each of the seven Holiday Bowls, but that string could be in jeopardy.

Apparently, under the new deal, the Holiday Bowl would not be bound to invite the WAC champ but would have that option.

Reid was evasive because of what he called the sensitivity of the current talks with WAC representatives.

Reid’s ambitions are tied to the lofty TV ratings achieved by the 1984 pairing of No. 1-ranked BYU and Michigan. The game was fourth out of 18 bowls in the television ratings.

The Holiday Bowl is attempting to enhance its status when there is a saturation of college football on television. That dampens advertiser enthusiasm, which in turn tends to hold down network bidding for bowl games. But it hasn’t significantly lessened Reid’s expectations.

“We feel we are in as good position to improve as anybody,” Reid said. “Our ratings will help us. You sell yourself on last year’s numbers. This is certainly our biggest opportunity so far.

“Last year’s success puts us in a position to be upwardly mobile. It enables us to move at an accelerated pace from the standpoint of money, exposure and the ability to attract quality teams.”

The Holiday Bowl is negotiating a new contract, since its deal with the Mizlou network expired with the past game. Mizlou has the option to match any new proposal from a rival network and is believed to favor playing the game on the traditional, pre-Christmas date.

A new TV pact could yield upward of $500,000 a year, and Reid is launching a campaign to supplement that figure with corporate sponsorship.

“We are putting together a major drive to raise funds outside TV and gate receipts in anticipation of not getting a greatly enhanced (network) payout,” Reid said.

“Our goal is to be able to pay $650,000 to each team (up from $470,000 for the 1984 participants). We hope that would allow us to compete with bowls that pay $700,000 to $800,000, which would put us in a class with the Gator Bowl. We would like to think that with San Diego’s many attractions we would be able to compete with them (more glamorous bowls).”

Reid was reluctant to provide details of a new arrangement with the WAC.

At the 1984 game, BYU Coach LaVell Edwards several times made reference to the Holiday Bowl’s seeming lack of appreciation for the Cougars and their following.

Reid is attempting to change that impression.

“Nothing could be further from the truth,” he said. “We owe 95%, or an enormous amount, of our success to BYU and its supporters.

“I was quoted in a national paper as saying the WAC was holding us back and we wanted out of our contract. I didn’t say exactly that. The WAC has been a deterrent to our TV negotiations. That much should be clear from the fact that BYU hasn’t been in a nationally televised regular-season game since 1979.

“That is all I intended to say, but BYU is pretty sensitive about this. To think we are not appreciative is 180 degrees from the truth.”

Less controversial is a proposal to tie in the Holiday Bowl with the Cabrillo Classic. Reid said the bowl game and the basketball tournament would benefit.