SEC Football: SEC and Big 12 Wise to Incorporate Current Bowls in Champions Bowl

The announcement last month that the SEC and Big 12 will partner up starting in 2014 for a new bowl game that would pit the conference champions of each conference in a bowl game was ground-breaking.

Granted, the likelihood that the conference champions of both conferences not being invited to a four-team playoff is slim-to-none; but the bowl will still provide a lucrative revenue stream to the conferences, which will own the event.

But where will it be?

While the specifics are still being worked out, former interim Big 12 commissioner Chuck Neinas hinted at what method he prefers to Chuck Carlton of the Dallas Morning News.

"

Neinas said the preference of the SEC and Big 12 is to work with an established bowl on the new Champions Bowl.

— Chuck Carlton (@ChuckCarltonDMN) June 26, 2012"

So consider Arlington, Texas; New Orleans, Atlanta and Orlando the early favorites.

That'd be the smart way to do it.

All four of those cities have a proven track record of bowl success, have established facilities (Orlando just announced a renovation to the Citrus Bowl), and will likely be favorites for the BCS National Championship Game in the new playoff format in addition to the "Champions Bowl." 

Committees for the Cotton Bowl, Sugar Bowl, Chick-Fil-A Bowl and Capital One Bowl are sure to be chomping at the bit to get their fingers on the newly-created bowl game. The SEC and Big 12 would be wise to let them continue to operate it. After all, they have established relationships with civic leaders, knowledge of the facilities and a time-tested method for success

You may loathe the bowl system, think it's antiquated and want to rid the world of anything bowl-related—but that's not going to happen.

This is still a bowl game, and the operation of the bowl game should be left to the people that have been doing this for years.

In a perfect world, I'd love to see the game rotated around to several cities in the footprint of the SEC and Big 12. That would keep bowl partners happy and keep things interesting in the postseason.

Follow @BarrettSallee