Freedom Bowl Director Wants Teams That Will Bring in the Most Fans

As Freedom Bowl executive director Tom Starr enters the stretch run of his second recruiting season, he remembers the battle cry of ‘84, when he was trying to pitch a brand-new product to a community of skeptical ticket-buyers.

“Last year, our No. 1 goal was to get two nationally prominent teams,” Starr said. “We had to establish ourselves. We needed to get a couple of big names, schools people could identify with.”

On that note, Starr succeeded. For Freedom Bowl I, he signed up Texas and Iowa. Texas spent part of 1984 as the top-ranked team in the nation. Iowa also owned that distinction in 1985 before last Saturday’s loss to Ohio State.

For Round Two, however, Starr has changed his tune. Big names are still nice, but bigger numbers at the turnstiles are the Freedom Bowl’s new priority.

“We wanted to fill the stadium and we didn’t do that,” said Starr, which is sort of like saying Mondale wanted to beat Reagan and didn’t. Freedom Bowl I didn’t come close to filling Anaheim Stadium--it barely filled one-third of the facility. Only 24,093 fans showed up in the Big A (capacity: 70,500) for Iowa’s 55-17 victory over Texas.

For that, Starr places the blame on a couple factors.

One was the date of the game--Dec. 26, the day after Christmas. “I always hated that date, right from the start,” Starr said. “It’s a bear. Not only is it hard on local fans but for fans of schools coming in from out-of-state, that means traveling on Christmas.”

Another was the poor weather, which literally made the game’s attendance a washout. “Rain,” said Starr in mock disgust. “Don’t ever mention that word to me.”

This year, Starr has a new date to play with, Dec. 30. He likes that. As for the weather, that rests in other, more highly-placed hands.

Starr is taking care of what’s within his control.

“We want to fill the stadium, so that’s why we’re leaning more toward Western schools,” Starr said. “The Pac-10, the WAC. We want teams that will put people in the stands.”

If that’s the requisite, two teams immediately come to mind--USC and UCLA.

Starr says the Freedom Bowl is in contention for both, although he admits UCLA (6-1-1) is a long shot. “UCLA is very much in our picture and so is USC, if it goes 8-3 without winning the Pac-10,” Starr said.

“But, realistically, if UCLA doesn’t go to the Rose Bowl, it will probably go to the Aloha Bowl. I’m not going to say UCLA has ‘an obligation’ to the Aloha Bowl, but they were supposed to go the last two years before they got invited to New Year’s Day bowls.”

Two more Western teams particularly interest Starr--Air Force and Brigham Young.

Air Force (9-0) is one of two unbeaten teams in Division I and will wind up in a New Year’s Day bowl if it wins it’s last two games (Army and BYU). BYU is 7-2 and would gain Starr’s stamp of approval even if the Mormon school splits its remaining four games.

“They are defending national champions, they have (quarterback Robbie) Bosco and the Church of Latter Day Saints has more than 300,000 members in Southern California,” Starr said. “If they go 10-3, we’d jump at them. We’re really in their picture and they really like us.”

And then, there’s that perennial, guaranteed seat-filler: Notre Dame, which considered the Freedom Bowl last year and, at 4-3, figures to be out of the New Year’s Day bowl game picture.

“If Notre Dame goes 7-4,” Starr said, “I’d stand on my head to get them.”

Less than three weeks remain before the bowl games’ signing deadline (Nov. 23) and Starr, who will attend Saturday’s Alabama-LSU game at Baton Rouge, has his game plan.

Bring in some teams that will bring some fans.

Said Starr: “If we get 55,000, you’ll see me smiling on Dec. 30. If we get 40,000, you’ll see a grin.

“And,” he added slowly, “if we get 30,000, you’ll see me on the next plane out.”