The national championship game will likely be rotated between the Orange Bowl, the Sugar Bowl and the Fiesta Bowl after the 1995 season, according to published reports.
Commissioners of college football conferences have decided to unanimously recommend the rotation, The Miami Herald reported Tuesday.The Fort Worth Star-Telegram and The Dallas Morning News reported today that the 58-year-old Cotton Bowl likely will be excluded from the group, which also will be rotating hosts for a national championship game. An announcement is expected later this week.
The Dallas Morning News quoted sources close to the Division I-A commissioners as saying the weather is a major factor in excluding the Cotton Bowl from the trio of New Year's Day games.
The deal still needs to win approval from the conferences' athletic directors, but commissioners don't expect them to veto the plan, the paper said, adding the final decision could be announced Thursday.
The paper quoted sources as saying that the Orange Bowl was chosen over the Gator Bowl, despite the Gator Bowl's higher bid, because the Orange Bowl has produced six of the past 11 national champions and includes a famous parade.
The Fiesta Bowl (Phoenix) bid $118 million, the Sugar Bowl (New Orleans) bid $108 million and the Orange Bowl bid $105 million, the paper said. The Gator Bowl (Jacksonville) made the second highest bid, $116 million.
The current bowl alliance includes the Orange, Sugar and Fiesta bowls, plus the Cotton Bowl (Dallas). The Cotton Bowl bid $100 million, the paper said.
Donn Bernstein, spokesman for the bowl coalition, said he could not confirm the report.