Pac-10 Forfeits Bowl Slot

Pacific 10 Conference athletic directors have vetoed a proposal to stage the Aloha Bowl in Anaheim on Christmas Day, jeopardizing the viability of the game and potentially depriving a Pac-10 team of a bowl bid.

Although bowl organizers negotiated a five-year contract with Disney to play the game at Edison Field and discussed possible financial guarantees with the city of Anaheim, conference officials essentially killed the bid by informing organizers the Pac-10 would not send a team.

“We were not interested in playing on Christmas Day, in Anaheim or anywhere else,” Pac-10 assistant commissioner Jim Muldoon said Friday. “We don’t think it will draw.”

The conference thus forfeits one of its six guaranteed bowl slots. If six conference teams qualify for bowl bids, which happens roughly every other season, one would either fight schools from other conferences for an at-large invitation or stay home.

“If you’re in the top five, you probably deserve to go to a bowl game,” USC associate athletic director Daryl Gross said. “I don’t think you’ll feel that bad if you finish sixth and you don’t get to go to a bowl game.”

In addition to the possibility of poor attendance on Christmas Day, the athletic directors also expressed concern over the difficulty of selling sponsorships and organizing ticket drives this year, with the game just four months away, sources said.

The proposed Anaheim site heightened those anxieties, given the demise of the Freedom Bowl (1984-94) and preseason Disneyland Pigskin Classic (1990-94). Both games were played at Edison Field, under its former name of Anaheim Stadium.

With tourists following their team to Southern California, and with ABC broadcasting the game nationally, Disney considered the bowl game a natural promotional vehicle for its two Anaheim theme parks.

“I think our city would have given the game its best chance [to succeed],” said Kevin Uhlich, vice president of Disney’s Anaheim Sports division. “We would have done everything humanly possible to make it successful.”

Bowl organizers originally moved the game from Honolulu to San Francisco, then scrambled to find a new home after ABC insisted the game remain on Christmas Day. The game might not be played this year, although organizers scouted Columbia, S.C., and Charlotte, N.C., this week, and the Pac-10 could reconsider its decision next year.

“We thought Anaheim would be a great place for a football game, provided the Pac-10 was involved,” said Terry Daw of Aloha Sports, the company that owns rights to the game. “We presented what we thought was a good offer. We’re disappointed, but we understand the Pac-10 is trying to do what it thinks is the best thing it can for its conference.”