Pierce Plans Bowl Despite Uncertainty Over Season

Amid debate over the future of intercollegiate sports in the Los Angeles Community College District, one thing is certain: a postseason football game at Pierce College.

While L.A. community college trustees decide whether the elimination of sports will help repay a $5-million loan from the county, Pierce Athletic Director Bob O’Connor is planning to play host to a bowl game Dec. 7.

And he’s not paying much attention to the possibility that no Los Angeles district teams will be eligible to play.

“I don’t think that’s going to happen,” he said. “They talk about making these cuts with the assumption that the athletes will stay at a school if there are no sports, and that’s just not the case.

“(The district) would end up losing more money (in lost revenue for average daily attendance) than they would by keeping the sports. I’m not too worried about it.”

Instead, O’Connor is focusing his attention on the inaugural Kiwanis-Brahma Bowl, one of eight postseason bowl games sanctioned by the state community college athletic commission.

At this point, the bowl game is in the planning stages. The San Fernando Valley Kiwanis, which consists of 10 West Valley branches headed by the Woodland Hills chapter, will co-sponsor the game with Pierce.

Kiwanis involvement will be strictly promotional. Kiwanis officials said they will reserve the revenue from the sale of 5,000 tickets for the Pierce athletic department and the state community colleges’ general fund.

Pierce will provide funding for the game, O’Connor said. As a result, the state has waived the $10,000 bond it requires outside sponsors to submit in case they can’t meet expenses.

“We’ve got to sell the tickets, that’s why we have the Kiwanis,” O’Connor said. “If they sell the tickets, it goes.”

O’Connor hopes the game will attract local teams, reducing overhead costs and increasing community interest. But the selection of teams is out of his hands.

That decision will be left to a state community college bowl selection committee, which will determine the 16 teams that will compete in the postseason bowls. The bowls are divided by region: four in the north, four in the south.

The committee makes its selection based on a set of criteria, said Stu Van Nort, director of public information and an assistant to state athletic commissioner Walt Rilliet. Top consideration is given to conference champions.

There are 10 conferences in the state, which would leave six spots open. But the remaining openings would not necessarily go to second-place teams.

“Those are tough decisions that have to be made,” Van Nort said. “It gets very tough when you look at a second-place team in one conference against a third-place team in a stronger conference.

“It’s a decision that is made annually but not easily arrived at.”

It is a decision that has left other novice bowl promoters irate. They have complained that the state’s seeding process takes away the local influence of the bowl, thereby hurting attendance and profits.

O’Connor has heard about the problems. But he remains optimistic about Pierce’s bowl plans.

“It’s going to be more than just a football game,” he said. “I’d like it to be a festive sort of thing.”

Last year, Pierce played in the Potato Bowl, the top bowl game in the state in terms of attendance. Sponsored by the Kern County Shriners, more than 19,000 watched as Pierce lost to Taft, 51-27.

The Potato Bowl, played at Bakersfield College, started in 1948. At one time, the game attracted out-of-state teams. Another year, it was in the form of a North-South state all-star game.

O’Connor said he would like to make the Kiwanis-Brahma Bowl a rival to the Potato Bowl.

“I think this ought to be a permanent fixture,” O’Connor said. “Whether we’re in it or not, it ought to be every year.”

Financially, both the Pierce athletic department and the state would benefit if the game is profitable.

“We would get 60% of the profit, with 40% going to the state,” O’Connor said. “The state uses the money from football to help fund postseason games in all areas.”

If it loses money? “I’ll have to find some somewhere,” O’Connor said.

Notes

Leonard Streva, the associate athletic director at Pierce, has been named game administrator for the Kiwanis-Brahma Bowl. . . . Kiwanis involvement with the game was almost accidental. According to Ron Clary, a Woodland Hills attorney, the club was originally called on to help fund travel expenses for Pierce athletes traveling to Finland as part of a football exhibition arranged by Brahma Coach Jim Fenwick. “When I called Fenwick to verify this, he asked us about the bowl,” Clary said. “We thought it was a great idea. Our main emphasis in Kiwanis is working with youth. In Woodland Hills, Pierce is our main involvement.”