Big East Football: Creating Own "Champions Bowl" Will Require Casting a Wide Net

We've all seen the Sports Business Journal report about the SEC-Big 12 Champions Bowl leveling up to the Rose Bowl by selling their rights for $80 million.

The ACC is next up on the list of branded games shopping their rights, as the conference looks to get close to their Big Ten, Pac-12, SEC and Big 12 counterparts in the cash game. Reports are circulating that the Big East, after seeing the other big five conferences brand bowl games, is looking into forming their own "Champions Bowl" of sorts.

From ESPN's Joe Schad:

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The Big East Conference has discussed starting a new bowl game for its champion, likely in Florida, starting with the 2014 season, according to sources at Big East Media Days in Newport, R.I.

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At first blush a lot of folks will scoff and roll eyes as the league carrying a bowl game seems more like "monkey see, monkey do" than actually working to position the league for the big times.

A branded Big East Champions Game, hosted in Florida, would likely not be on the initial six-bowl rotation for the semifinals coming in 2014. Rather it would be, much like Conference USA and the Liberty Bowl or the MWC and the Las Vegas Bowl, just another bowl game in the grand scheme of things.

However, as the Big Four join forces, and the ACC works towards a Notre Dame solution, the Big East still has an opportunity to benefit from the system and the branding of a bowl game.

They just have to look somewhere besides Florida.

Florida is great. The weather works and it is a solid destination for fans come December or January. Unfortunately, outside of USF and UCF, the state is not exactly on the "easy trip" radar for the bulk of the league. Add to that, the fact that the state of Florida is saturated with bowl games, and that is not as a "Big East hub" but rather as an SEC hub, a Big Ten destination and an ACC partner.

No, to make their game relevant they are going to have to look elsewhere. Go West, Big East!

The Fiesta Bowl has been crippled by the loss of the Big 12 Champion to the "Champions Bowl." Add in the rise of the Cotton Bowl, and what you have in Glendale is a bowl game with a pouting lip and no dance partner as they hold up the wall and try to cling to their prestige.

Enter the Big East. With the conference expanding West, Boise State, San Diego State, Houston and SMU, they have teams that are in the footprint of the Fiesta Bowl. Glendale, like Pasadena is to the Big Ten, could become the season ending destination for the conference. It would be their host site for their playoff semifinals if they end up in the Top Two.

More importantly, for those years they are not hosting it would provide an avenue into those Big Six games.

As far as partners go the Big East has several options. As far as "big schools" go, looking at the Pac-12 or Big 12 number twos is an option. Both are in the footprint of the region, the Big 12 through their Fiesta Bowl history and the Pac-12 through the state of Arizona's conference affiliation.

The Fiesta Bowl would certainly trump the Alamo or Holiday Bowl when it comes to national stage and getting a highly ranked Pac-12 or Big 12 team matched up against the Big East.

In moving forward, the league could also choose to have the option of including the non-major conference teams that are highly ranked in the bowl game. Unlike the Rose Bowl, Sugar Bowl and Orange Bowl, the Fiesta Bowl has embraced the non-BCS teams. This would continue that tradition by allowing MWC, Conference USA, MAC or Sun Belt team that finishes the season highly ranked a platform to play.

The option is there. The Fiesta Bowl most certainly needs help to remain relevant and the Big East is fighting to get into the mix as well. With the new push west of the Mississippi, the Big East should look to partner with the Fiesta Bowl as a way to save both ships.