[eshigginbotham]

Date: December 23, 2005
Time: 7:00 p.m. Kickoff (CST)
Location: Amon G. Carter Stadium
Fort Worth, Texas
Network: ESPN & ESPN+
Conference Teams: Kansas (Big 12) vs Houston (C-USA)
Payouts: $750,000
Stadium Capacity: 44,000

[safly]

Wow, KANSAS. Haven't heard that band in a loooooong time. Dust in the wind....

Well, at least it doesn't interfere with this one. ALAMO Bowl Dec. 28th

[JulieM]

We'll be heading up there for the game.

Does anybody else think it's funny that TCU is playing in the Houston Bowl and Houston is playing in the Fort Worth Bowl?

[safly]

Agreed.

[TexasPacific52]

Oh come on, it's somewhat funny....We've been laughing about that here at work for a few days now....

[safly]

especially at something soooo NOT funny.

[DrkLts]

The Star-T mentioned 32,000 tickets were sold for this bowl game. Not as much as the 38,000 the 1st year (tho maybe TCU being in it helped) I still think the FW bowl will be around for a little longer than most think. I hope so.

[safly]

That's great news. I was enroute to SA during the game, how was the turnout? And the TV exposure?

Maybe TCUuuuu will LEARN something from this matchup and start scheduling some lofty opponents that travel well from either inside TX or just beyond. If you get good travelin numbers and primo matchups, the likes of ESPN, FOX and others will start lookin at FW to market their ad $$$'s to (time slots, commercial shares and etc.). In fact, I know that advertising companies will demand that media exposure. DFW Metroplex (pop. 4,250,000+), ESPN prime time Sat. OH YEAAAAH! Before you know it, a crowd of 60,000 will be the norm. I believe it CAN, if done correctly.

I just hope that the "powers that be", don't screwww up the opp't. at hand. Just MHO on things here.

[Keller Pirate]

Saw a couple of interesting items about the Ft Worth bowl in the Business section of the Star-Telegram today. Apparantly they were going to have a beef bowl type of event at Blades Prime Chop House Thursday but they went out of business after last Saturday night. A Ft Worth bowl official stopped by Monday to see how preparations were coming and they were hauling the furnishings away on trucks. No calls returned from the owner.

Reata stepped up and managed to pull off the diners for the teams. I also found it interesting that the Ft Worth Bowl is owned and operated by the ESPN television network which picked up the tab ($9,000) for the Reata dinners. Blades was donating the dinners for publicity as their second anniversery neared.

My question is; does Ft Worth have anything to do with the Ft Worth Bowl other than being the location where it is played?

[TexasPacific52]

I was at the game last night and had a lot of fun. It wasn't to cold. The wind was really whipping at times in the upper stands but was okay down below. Kansas fans had Houston fans way outnumbered. Kansas did this wave thing ("Waving the Wheat" or something like that) whenever they scored. Made me motion sick just looking at it from up in the stands.

The KU fans came to have fun and seemed to have made the most out of the FTW experience. Houston seemed to have barely showed up for the game. All of the parking lots around TCU were filled full of KU fans having tail gate parties.

The KU cheerleaders and dancers were all in their skirts enjoying the "cool" Texas weather. Houston's cheerleaders had their warm ups on by the end of the game. I admit I had to put my coat on at the end but it was nothing compared to the Fort Worth "Arctic" Bowl last year.

As usual, they ran out of t-shirts and some of the good food before half time. It was kinda neat to see the game on ESPN playing on the jumbo-tron while being their in person. I kept looking for that yellow line on the field but cound't find it.

Both bands were on the field to play the National Anthem. It was quickly followed by a low flying jet (possibly F-18) flyover. The only thing visible of the plane were the two engines kicking in as it screamed over head.

One of the funniest things during the game was the FTW Star-Telegram commercial that ESPN kept showing on the jumbo-tron. It you haven't seen the commercial, it's the one where the short fat guy comes out onto his porch asking the neighborhood who won the game, who died, and what time is the movie? By the end of the game all of the KU fans were actually answering him when he asked the questions. The stadium boomed Q-Who won the game? A- "Kansas", Q- Who died? A- "Houston". Who would have thought that a cheesy commerical could be worked into a football game and probably be remembered by thousands from now on. The Star-Telegram may not pick up any new subscriptions from the Kansas people but they sure will be talking about it for a long time.

I sure hope the game continues to gain popularity. There wasn't a lot of publicity by the city or news agencies prior to the game. Since I live in FTW I would have liked to have seen some of the other activities that went on. Evidently there was a huge pep-rally Thursday night for both schools in Sundance Square. Since Kansas brought several thousand students with them I'm sure it was a sight to see. I haven't seen any pics of Sundance filled up. Hopefully some will surface.

[DrkLts]

One of the funniest things during the game was the FTW Star-Telegram commercial that ESPN kept showing on the jumbo-tron. It you haven't seen the commercial, it's the one where the short fat guy comes out onto his porch asking the neighborhood who won the game, who died, and what time is the movie? By the end of the game all of the KU fans were actually answering him when he asked the questions. The stadium boomed Q-Who won the game? A- "Kansas", Q- Who died? A- "Houston". Who would have thought that a cheesy commerical could be worked into a football game and probably be remembered by thousands from now on. The Star-Telegram may not pick up any new subscriptions from the Kansas people but they sure will be talking about it for a long time.

Is that university anywhere near Kansas City? If so, I'm sure the Kansas City Star has the same commercial but with thier paper mentioned instead. So Kansas fans should be familiar with it. The Star-Telegram and the KC Star owned by the same company and that particular commercial been around for quite some time and probably been used by all city papers owned by Knight Ridder. (Did I spell it right?) lol I swear I always think of the show with the talking car when I see that name.

[safly]

By the end of the game all of the KU fans were actually answering him when he asked the questions. The stadium boomed Q-Who won the game? A- "Kansas", Q- Who died? A- "Houston".

That EXACT commercial was used in '03, THE INNAUGURAL ANNUAL FW BOWL. Twas Boise ST. making the same call, against them Horned Frogs. Sounds like a GREAT time was in effect. GO KANSAS cheerleaders! To me that IS the entertainment. My home friends (UT and AtM alumn) watched it on TV in SA, said Howston High didn't show up, but go BIG 12 Kansas.

As far as picking up the tab, if the receipt says ESPN, then good ol Disney took care of that one.

I don't know WHAT Blade's was thinking. Gotta make and meet your commitments, of any size.

Leaving FW, I did notice a HUGE KU presence in many of DTFW pubs. I like that.

Kansas Univ. is I believe not near KC. Not Wichita? Shocker. Not Levinworth? LAWRENCE! Yeah, that's it. Pretty place too. Good basketball.

[Urbndwlr]

The FWST published the attendance figures for each of the bowl games. I found the Liberty bowl (between Tulsa and Fresno State) stated attendance of 54,894 suspiciously high. Perhaps I just really underestimate one or both of those teams' fan bases, but that # seems awefully high for a lackluster matchup in a decent but not terriffic bowl destination city. The FW Bowl attendance number actually went down to 30K and change - anyone know why that happened? I suspect there is often some serious fudge factor in these figures and was curious if the powers that be take that into consideration when determining the long-term fate of each (i.e. FW Bowl vs. other non-BCS bowls)

[safly]

If you look at those CC inspired FWBowl billboards, the obvious is that the game is pushed as a local "brand" event, not a destination. Yet.

Team matchups have somethign to do with it, and the scheduled date has A LOT to do with it. The commitee must sell the EVENT in a packaged deal for the everyday fan/family who would like to cheer on their team and travel to FW. A group effort of sorts by many businesses and the city. Not FWST, or the FW Bowl commitee. The city TRULY has to cherish this event and be commited, but something has to be shown for it, perhaps a great GAME.

The DTFW team rallys suck wind too IMHO. Need WAAAY more fan fare around the campus and DTFW leading up to the game. Autograph parties, alumni games (not necessarily football), alumni celebs (fly em in and book em up), maybe a float parade? How bout a Football Players Eating Contest? Public event, mano a mano. 2 athletes, maybe one FW citizen (eating champion). Now that is a sport with lots of UPside. Oops. (Reversal of Fortune!) Yeah, I would name it Fort Worth's Reversal of Fortune, instead of Wheel of Fortune. Or maybe, Meal of Fortune.

Lots of ideas to throw around here. This IS THE venue to do so.