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5/5/08 St. Petersburg Awarded NCAA Bowl Tournament
The NCAA Postseason Football Licensing Subcommittee announced on
April 30th that a new collegiate football bowl game had been
added to the roster and awarded to St. Petersburg. The first “St.
Petersburg Bowl” will debut at St. Petersburg’s Tropicana Field
during the week of December 20th in 2008.
Mayor Rick Baker joined representatives from ESPN, the Big
East, Conference USA, Visit St. Pete Clearwater, and the Tampa Bay Sports
Commission in presenting the bid for the new bowl game. Mayor Rick Baker
expressed, “St. Petersburg is proud to host the bowl and I’d
like to thank ESPN Regional Television for its leadership in recruiting the
bowl game.”
The St. Petersburg Bowl joins an elite group of only 28 cities
nationwide to host a NCAA collegiate bowl game. The bowl will field a
match-up between a Big East and a Conference USA team. ESPN Regional
Television, a subsidiary of ESPN, will own, operate, televise the game live
and is seeking a corporate sponsor for the bowl.
“We look forward to the opportunity to host a bowl game
at a great destination – St. Petersburg. The St. Petersburg area has
a great association with sports. It’s a great venue and this is sure
to be a rewarding experience for the student athletes and their teams, as
well as the fans who attend the game,” stated Pete Derzis, senior
vice president & general manager, ESPN Regional Television.
Tropicana Field will accommodate up to 40,000 fans for the game
with a ticket cost of $30. The field has been host to previous NCAA events,
including the NCAA Men’s Final Four Basketball Championship in 1999.
It has also served as a home to the Tampa Bay Storm Arena Football Team,
and a variety of other events before welcoming the Tampa Bay Rays in 1998.
To learn more about the St. Petersburg Bowl, please visit ESPN Regional Television online and for ticket sales
information call 1-800-325-2910.
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