Latest Bowl Shuffling Could Involve the Sun (Updated)

Updated: The Sun votes unanimously to go with the ACC.

Big decision to be made Wednesday in that West Texas town of El Paso. Sun Bowl and CBS officials will huddle and decide whether to retain an association with the Big East or switch to the Atlantic Coast Conference. The opponent would remain a team from the Pacific 10.

With the four-year cycle of bowl arrangements expiring, conferences have been scrambling to arrange new tie-ins to postseason games. Needless to say, there's a lot riding on Wednesday's decision for the Big East.

If the Sun says no, the Big East will have lost ties to the Gator and Sun bowls and gained an agreement with the Champs Sports Bowl. The league announced that deal Tuesday.

The payout for the Champs is a reported $2.4 million. Gator officials are said to be close to a deal with the Big Ten with a payout approaching $3 million, so at the moment the Big East appears to have left about $600,000 a year at the bowl table.

The Big East has been including Notre Dame in its talks with bowls. The Fighting Irish could end up playing in the Champs once during the new four-year deal, but that deal could impact the Big East's relationship with the Sun, which has openly lusted after Notre Dame.

Last year, the Sun thought it had locked up the Fighting Irish for its Dec. 31 game, and chairman John Folmer told an El Paso TV station that "when we went into the arrangement with the Big East, we did it solely so we'd have an opportunity for Notre Dame. Period."

It's unclear what restrictions might be in place for the Sun to land the Fighting Irish under a new deal.

Comments

[Sean]

"It's unclear what restrictions might be in place for the Sun to land the Fighting Irish under a new deal."

Its been reported in several places that it would be ND once every four years.