The new Silicon Valley Football Classic has struck a one-year deal with the Mountain West Conference, providing the league with three guaranteed bowl berths this season. But BYU won't play in the San Jose-based game, even if it earns enough wins to qualify.
Former Utah State coach and Silicon Valley Football Classic executive director Chuck Shelton announced the agreement between the bowl and the MWC Thursday. The MWC representative will meet a host team from the Western Athletic Conference.
The date of the inaugural game is Dec. 31, which falls on a Sunday. As per LDS Church and university policy, the Cougars do not participate in athletic events on Sunday.
The MWC also has guaranteed bids in the Liberty and Las Vegas Bowls. Earlier this year, the Liberty Bowl, traditionally played on Dec. 31, changed the date of its game to Dec. 29 in case the Cougars were selected to play in Memphis.
Though BYU won't be involved in the new bowl this season, athletic director Val Hale likes the arrangement with the Silicon Valley and the WAC. "It's tough when you have only two bowls and eight teams," he said. "The more bowls we have, the better it will be for the conference. It's a great opportunity to play in a West Coast bowl. There are precious few of those left. It's a natural for our conference."
"This gives us three bowls as a conference and gives us a geographic region to which our fans will travel to," said MWC commissioner Craig Thompson. "It makes sense for us."
Playing opposite the MWC in the Silicon Valley Football Classic, to be held at San Jose State's Spartan Stadium, will be a school from the western part of the WAC. If the league champion comes from the West — either Fresno State, Hawaii, Nevada, San Jose State or UTEP — it will be invited to San Jose. If the champ is from the Eastern region — SMU, TCU, Tulsa or Rice — it will be ticketed to the Mobile Alabama Bowl.
The Silicon Valley Football Classic will be televised on Fox Sports Net, and payout for the game is the NCAA minimum of $750,000 per team.
Both Thompson and WAC commissioner Karl Benson believe a showdown between the MWC and WAC will be good for both leagues as well as for the fledgling bowl. The eight schools that form the MWC broke away from the WAC in 1999.
"A WAC-MWC matchup should provide for a very successful inaugural game for the Silicon Valley Football Classic and lay a foundation for the bowl to prosper in future years," Benson said.
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