Sugar Bowl?

[BuckeyeNation27]

[FONT=verdana, arial, sans serif][SIZE=-1][FONT=verdana, arial, sans serif][SIZE=-1] http://www.collegefootballnews.com/2005/Ask_CFN/Ask_CFN.htm


I know that Hurricane Katrina caused a lot of damage to the Louisiana Superdome (Everybody should offer their thoughts and prayers to those severely hurt by the attack). My question, being college football related, is what are they going to do with the Sugar Bowl? The Superdome may be ready, but how about all of the hotel and accommodations for the fans? Could you see them move the Bowl To Baton Rouge (If the Rose Bowl can be filled to capacity, I do not See why They can't fill 90,000 plus fans into Tiger Stadium). - ELW

A: Considering the nightmare that’s occurring in the Superdome at the moment, and that some are hinting it’ll take a minimum of ten years before New Orleans will be environmentally safe enough to truly consider rebuilding, there’s no way the Sugar Bowl will be played there. BCS officials have already started discussions with Sugar Bowl officials to get the ball rolling and get this figured out. Look for the Bowl to be moved to either the Alamodome in San Antonio, somewhere in Houston, or Baton Rouge as long as there aren’t major problems there with all the refugees piling in. Considering the Sugar Bowl has been in New Orleans since 1934 and is worth around $175 million a year to the community, I’d vote for it to be played in Baton Rouge if only to keep all the money and the tradition in Louisiana to help the overall effort.
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[HerdZone]

Im a Marshall fan that lives in Lafayette LA, we got a little wind and rain and thats it. Ive said to many ppl the next big event that happens in New Orleans will be one of two things. One) The Sugar Bowl or Two) Mardi Gras which starts in the middle of Feb.

 

[Jaxbuck]

Im a Marshall fan that lives in Lafayette LA, we got a little wind and rain and thats it. Ive said to many ppl the next big event that happens in New Orleans will be one of two things. One) The Sugar Bowl or Two) Mardi Gras which starts in the middle of Feb.

The next big event in NO will be when the CDC declares it inhabitible for humans again.:(

 

[Bucktastic]

Interesting update....

Repairing hotels key to Sugar Bowl being played in Louisiana

NEW ORLEANS -- There's still a chance the Sugar Bowl could be played in Louisiana.

Work crews were busy in several New Orleans hotels Wednesday, repairing damage from Hurricane Katrina. If enough hotels in the area are up and running by December, the Sugar Bowl will be played at LSU's Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge.

If they aren't, Atlanta's Georgia Dome would be a likely alternative, Sugar Bowl executive director Paul Hoolahan is expected to tell the commissioners of the 11 Division I-A conferences at a BCS meeting Tuesday in Chicago.
"Obviously, this will not be a normal New Orleans Sugar Bowl experience," Hoolahan said. "But I think everyone will take a little disruption, maybe more than a little disruption, to get this done.

"Our preference is to play the game in Louisiana, because the Sugar Bowl is a Louisiana event. But we are pursuing a parallel track to ensure that there is a Sugar Bowl this year."

The new BCS contract cycle begins in 2006. The Sugar Bowl is scheduled to play host not only to the national championship game after the 2007 season but the "regular" Sugar Bowl under the double-hosting format that starts next season.

Sugar Bowl officials will be anxiously watching the progress of restoring the Superdome, something that is expected to take at least a year.
"The Sugar Bowl isn't going anywhere," Hoolahan said. "The Sugar Bowl is synonymous with New Orleans, and we are totally invested in rebuilding the Superdome."

Hoolahan said playing the game anywhere but New Orleans would be difficult beyond 2006. That could mean the BCS awarding the Sugar Bowl spot in the championship rotation to another bowl.

"I wouldn't be honest if I didn't tell you I'm feeling the pressure," Hoolahan said. "And I'd be foolish not to acknowledge that the commissioners don't have some of those thoughts in their minds right now."

The Sugar Bowl game on Jan. 2 will match the SEC champion -- provided that team is not playing for the BCS championship in the Rose Bowl -- and an at-large team.

"Our priority is this season and doing all we can to help the Sugar Bowl be part of the recovery of New Orleans," said Big 12 commissioner and BCS coordinator Kevin Weiberg. "But it's far too early to speculate on anything beyond this season."

 

[ScriptOhio]

[FONT=verdana, arial, sans serif][SIZE=-1][FONT=verdana, arial, sans serif][SIZE=-1] Considering the Sugar Bowl has been in New Orleans since 1934 and is worth around $175 million a year to the community, I’d vote for it to be played in Baton Rouge if only to keep all the money and the tradition in Louisiana to help the overall effort. [/SIZE][/FONT][/SIZE][/FONT]

Re: Work crews were busy in several New Orleans hotels Wednesday, repairing damage from Hurricane Katrina. If enough hotels in the area are up and running by December, the Sugar Bowl will be played at LSU's Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge.

It would be great to see Louisiana get money $175 million for rebuilding; however, the problem will be that it won't be worth nearly that much for Baton Rouge. Baton Rouge is not a "tourist destination" city. The Sugar Bowl visitors will (more than likely) just visit for the game, etc. Unlike in New Orleans where they would have stayed (and spent money) for 5 to 7 days, etc.

 

[scott91575]

My money is on the Georgia Dome. Mentioned in the article posted, and my thought before I saw that article. I know the sentimental vote is for a LA site, but it makes the most sense.

 

[ScriptOhio]

Updated: Sep. 20, 2005, 4:12 PM ET
Sugar Bowl decision between Atlanta, Baton Rouge


<!-- end pagetitle --><!-- begin bylinebox -->Associated Press

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<!-- begin text11 div --><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top><!-- begin leftcol --><!-- template inline -->The Sugar Bowl will be played in either Baton Rouge, La., or Atlanta after being forced out of the Superdome in New Orleans by the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
Sugar Bowl officials said Tuesday they will know in about three weeks whether Louisiana has recovered sufficiently to keep the game in the state where it has been played every year since it was established in 1935.
While Tiger Stadium, capacity almost 92,000, on the LSU campus would make an adequate game host, the city of Baton Rouge does not have enough hotel rooms and sufficient infrastructure to host an event that would bring in thousands of tourists for the Jan. 2 game.
Sugar Bowl executive director Paul Hoolahan said that if the game is to be played in Baton Rouge, New Orleans would have to be prepared to house most of the people -- from participants and media to fans -- traveling to the game.
"We are going to continue to talk with city and state officials, everybody who will need to be involved in this process," he said in a teleconference from Chicago with BCS officials. "This is totally about New Orleans."
Atlanta already has given Sugar Bowl officials the OK to play the game in the Georgia Dome, which hosts the Southeastern Conference championship game in December. That made Atlanta an obvious and convenient choice as a temporary home for one of college football's longest-running and most recognizable events.
The SEC has a long relationship with the Sugar Bowl, having sent its champion there for decades.
The Peach Bowl is scheduled to be played in the Georgia Dome on Dec. 30, and the Falcons have an NFL game scheduled there on Sunday, Jan. 1, but Atlanta officials have assured the Sugar Bowl that those games wouldn't interfere with the bowl.
Ideally, though, bowl and BCS officials would like the Sugar Bowl to remain in Louisiana.
"We want to be part of the recovery story for the state and the Gulf region," Bowl Championship Series commissioner Kevin Weiberg said.
The game brings $150 million to $200 million in revenue to the state and city, Hoolahan said.
"We want to be able to go to the legislators, the mayor and the governor knowing that we did everything humanly possible to make it happen in the state of the Louisiana," said Hoolahan, a New Orleans resident who has relocated to Houston with his family since the storm hit Aug. 29.
One of four BCS games, the Sugar Bowl hosts the national championship game once every four years, along with the Rose, Fiesta and Orange bowls.
The Rose Bowl hosts the national title game this season. The Sugar Bowl is next slated to host the championship game after the 2007 season.
The Superdome has hosted the Sugar Bowl since 1975. Before then it was played at Tulane Stadium, starting in 1935.
Hoolahan remained positive about the possibility of playing the game in Baton Rouge, despite the fact that on Monday, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin suspended the reopening of his city and ordered nearly everyone to leave town again.
"I can't say with any level of confidence today that it won't be played in Baton Rouge," Hoolahan said.

Hoolahan estimated the Sugar Bowl needs 32,000 hotel rooms available in Baton Rouge and New Orleans for the game to be played in Louisiana. Some hotels have begun to reopen in New Orleans, but those rooms were being quickly filled by recovery and hotel employees, Hoolahan said.
And even if the rooms become available, the rest of the city must be repaired enough to keep visitors safe.
"We don't want to hamper the recovery operation in any way," Hoolahan said. "However, we want to see if there is room where we can coexist."
He said numerous other cities expressed interest in hosting the Sugar Bowl, though he did not name any.
The future of the Sugar Bowl beyond 2006 is even more uncertain, though Hoolahan said he believes the Superdome could be adequately fixed by next year.
He also spoke of the possibility of a new stadium or sports complex being built in New Orleans.
"We would like to think the new Superdome can become the economical engine of the recovery," he said.
But Sugar Bowl officials are far away from being able to even guess about where the game will be played in 2007 and beyond.
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http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=2167057

 

[Bucktastic]

Thanks for the update!!