Post by Jet on Sept 23, 2014 12:52:55 GMT -6
The inaugural Camellia Bowl will be played in the Gump on Saturday, December 20 at Cramton Bowl. Several years as a child and early in my career, I would spend Christmas Day afternoon at the Bowl for the Blue-Gray Game. But as the number of bowl games proliferated, reducing the number of schools from which players could participate, the Blue-Gray dwindled away. It moved to Troy for one year, but finally gave up the ghost.
A few years ago, the city of Montgomery put a few million into sprucing up the Bowl, which was built in the early 1900s as a baseball field, then later modified for football. New locker rooms and a press box (with an elevator) was where most of the money went. This doesn't include the Multiplex building adjacent to the south end zone. That facility hosts all sorts of volleyball, basketball, wrestling and other tournaments/meets.
The renovation to the Bowl occurred right before Alabama State University decided to use money from the desegregation lawsuit to build a $62 million stadium about six blocks away on campus (the ASU stadium has more suite space). Both stadiums are in the 27,500 range, though the ASU stadium is expandable. The sad thing is that ASU doesn't draw good crowds, except when it plays Alabama A&M at Legion Field and when it can make an agreement to play Tuskegee -- which has been an off and on series. It's off for now because Tuskegee wants to try to play in the Division II playoffs, which it can't do if it has a game on Thanksgiving weekend.
So last year, the city decided to pitch ESPN as a site for a bowl game -- we've got this stadium and need to use it. We were selected for a Sun Belt vs. MAC game. Raycom, the media group that owns stations all over the state and Southeast, is the title sponsor. Then came the bad news.
The game will be played at 8:15 p.m. on a Saturday night.
There are four bowl games on ESPN that day -- Boise, New Orleans, Albuquerque and Montgomery. ESPN could have made New Orleans the late game with the domed stadium, but is playing that game at 11 a.m., which would be tolerable for Montgomery. In a sketchy part of downtown, I fear Montgomery is set up for one-and-done in the bowl game business. This is especially true since it appears Troy will not be in bowl contention. South Alabama will almost certainly be placed in the GMAC, or whatever the bowl in Mobile is called, if it is bowl eligible.
A few years ago, the city of Montgomery put a few million into sprucing up the Bowl, which was built in the early 1900s as a baseball field, then later modified for football. New locker rooms and a press box (with an elevator) was where most of the money went. This doesn't include the Multiplex building adjacent to the south end zone. That facility hosts all sorts of volleyball, basketball, wrestling and other tournaments/meets.
The renovation to the Bowl occurred right before Alabama State University decided to use money from the desegregation lawsuit to build a $62 million stadium about six blocks away on campus (the ASU stadium has more suite space). Both stadiums are in the 27,500 range, though the ASU stadium is expandable. The sad thing is that ASU doesn't draw good crowds, except when it plays Alabama A&M at Legion Field and when it can make an agreement to play Tuskegee -- which has been an off and on series. It's off for now because Tuskegee wants to try to play in the Division II playoffs, which it can't do if it has a game on Thanksgiving weekend.
So last year, the city decided to pitch ESPN as a site for a bowl game -- we've got this stadium and need to use it. We were selected for a Sun Belt vs. MAC game. Raycom, the media group that owns stations all over the state and Southeast, is the title sponsor. Then came the bad news.
The game will be played at 8:15 p.m. on a Saturday night.
There are four bowl games on ESPN that day -- Boise, New Orleans, Albuquerque and Montgomery. ESPN could have made New Orleans the late game with the domed stadium, but is playing that game at 11 a.m., which would be tolerable for Montgomery. In a sketchy part of downtown, I fear Montgomery is set up for one-and-done in the bowl game business. This is especially true since it appears Troy will not be in bowl contention. South Alabama will almost certainly be placed in the GMAC, or whatever the bowl in Mobile is called, if it is bowl eligible.
