College Football Playoff: Alternating Sites Secures Sugar and Cotton Bowl Future

A week ago, we talked about the chances of those above the Mason-Dixon line hosting a championship game slowly dying on the vine, as Indianapolis elected not to bid on the contest in the near future.

Now, the polar opposite can be said about the Cotton Bowl, as Kirk Bohls of the Austin American-Statesman reports. The folks associated with the Cotton Bowl game have laced up their boots and they are going to go the proverbial "all-in" to get the semifinals, the Champions Bowl and the Championship Game on-site.

That's a tremendous play for the folks in Texas. A game that felt wronged in being left out of the BCS picture for the last decade-plus is now making the steps to ensure their future success. As the Fiesta Bowl's star goes out—no true bowl tie-ins, a game simply picking off the leftovers and hoping to host a semifinal—the Cotton Bowl rises.

While the total picture is great for the game in Jerry's World, the truly interesting portion of Bohls' report was about the possible agreement between the Cotton and the Sugar Bowls:

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The Cotton Bowl officials talked to the Sugar Bowl “more than a year ago” about the possibility of working out an arrangement with it as alternating hosts of the Champions Bowl.

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The idea of alternating hosts for a major bowl game sounds off, at first. How will the game build a tradition? How will the game grow its brand and fanbase if it is jumping between New Orleans and Dallas?

Great questions. Except, given the current climate, it makes sense. Neither city wants to lose out on hosting a semifinal or the Champions Bowl. In the years where one has the semifinal, the other gets the Champions Bowl. In years where neither hosts the semifinal, they switch back and forth with the Champions Bowl, and the other game would feature some of the best the SEC, Big 12 and at-large teams have to offer.

You see, with no two-team limit on the bowls, the off year still has a chance to feature some homegrown talent out of the region. In a given year, we're looking at SEC and Big 12 Champions going to semifinals, the runner-ups heading to the Champions Bowl, and the third-place teams OR a worthy at-large team headed to the "other" site. 

It keeps that game relevant, helps them retain a regional footprint and allows for the game to have out-of-region teams in years when they host a semifinal or are not hosting the Champions Bowl. As we saw with the Sugar Bowls featuring Ohio State or Notre Dame, big outside names can most certainly sell in the region. That is, as long as the game is anchored by a team from the area.

For the Cotton Bowl, that would mean grabbing the best available Big 12 or SEC West team to anchor their game in years without the Champions Bowl or a semifinal. For the Sugar Bowl, the best available SEC team will work just fine.

Both bowls win. Both conferences win, and ultimately they find a way to truly solidify their presence. Instead of working against one another to wrestle control of the Champions Bowl away from the other, they can truly lock themselves into a unique partnership that benefits all parties.