JLEW1818
9/1/2009, 07:30 PM
02:02 PM CDT on Tuesday, September 1, 2009
By BARRY HORN / The Dallas Morning News
[email protected]
The annual AT&T Cotton Bowl Classic game is headed to prime time in 2011. And not only will the game, which never has started later than 3:30 p.m., be played at night, it will be played later in January than ever before.
The 2011 Cotton Bowl will be played on Friday, Jan. 7, with kickoff sometime after 7 p.m. Moving to a night game and pushing the game back were negotiated in a four-year television contract extension with Fox that runs from 2011 to 2014. Fox has been the television home of the Cotton Bowl since 1999. The Cotton Bowl, set for its 74th edition in January, has never been played later than Jan. 2.
The remaining games in the new contract will be played Friday, Jan. 6, 2012; Friday Jan. 4, 2013; and Monday, Jan. 6, 2014.
Those four games, like the upcoming 2010 game, will be played at the new home of the Cotton Bowl – the domed Cowboys Stadium, where inclement winter weather would not be a deterrent to a night game, as it had been at the Cotton Bowl stadium in Dallas.
The 2010 game is scheduled for Jan. 2 at 1 p.m.
While only the 2011 game has been officially moved to prime time, it would seem that the 2012-14 games, whose kickoff times remain "to be determined," are naturals for prime-time play.
"We think the Cotton Bowl in prime time in January will be a winner," said Fox Sports senior producer Bill Brown. But he said it will be up to the network's sales division and entertainment group to decide the start times beyond 2011.
It was the sales group that initially suggested moving the game to prime time, Brown said. "They have always been bullish on the Cotton Bowl," he said.
All four Cotton Bowl games in the new contract have been scheduled between BCS bowl nights. The Cotton Bowl will be played after the Rose, Orange, Fiesta and Sugar bowls but before the Bowl Championship Series title game. Beginning next year, the five BCS games will be televised by cable's ESPN. That will leave the Cotton Bowl, which aspires to join the BCS, the only January game on prime-time broadcast network television.
ESPN is taking over the BCS from Fox, whose BCS contract expires after the 2010 games. The ESPN deal runs through January 2014.
"We are proud that Fox deems our game important enough to move its prime-time entertainment shows out for us," said Rick Baker, Cotton Bowl president.
The 2010 game also marks the final year of the Cotton Bowl's contract with sponsor AT&T, as well as with the Big 12, which sends its runner-up to the game, and the Southeastern Conference, which supplies one of its top teams as the opponent.
New agreements with AT&T and the conferences are expected to be announced shortly. The move from the early-January glut of games to an exclusive prime-time spot should whet the appetite of the Big 12 and SEC.
"We couldn't be happier to extend our relationship with the Cotton Bowl," said Brown, who has coordinated the network's BCS coverage. "I've worked with all the bowls except the Rose, and it is the best-run. Now it is moving into the finest stadium in the world. That will only enhance the coverage."
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/090109dnspocottonbowl.32d2c70.html
By BARRY HORN / The Dallas Morning News
[email protected]
The annual AT&T Cotton Bowl Classic game is headed to prime time in 2011. And not only will the game, which never has started later than 3:30 p.m., be played at night, it will be played later in January than ever before.
The 2011 Cotton Bowl will be played on Friday, Jan. 7, with kickoff sometime after 7 p.m. Moving to a night game and pushing the game back were negotiated in a four-year television contract extension with Fox that runs from 2011 to 2014. Fox has been the television home of the Cotton Bowl since 1999. The Cotton Bowl, set for its 74th edition in January, has never been played later than Jan. 2.
The remaining games in the new contract will be played Friday, Jan. 6, 2012; Friday Jan. 4, 2013; and Monday, Jan. 6, 2014.
Those four games, like the upcoming 2010 game, will be played at the new home of the Cotton Bowl – the domed Cowboys Stadium, where inclement winter weather would not be a deterrent to a night game, as it had been at the Cotton Bowl stadium in Dallas.
The 2010 game is scheduled for Jan. 2 at 1 p.m.
While only the 2011 game has been officially moved to prime time, it would seem that the 2012-14 games, whose kickoff times remain "to be determined," are naturals for prime-time play.
"We think the Cotton Bowl in prime time in January will be a winner," said Fox Sports senior producer Bill Brown. But he said it will be up to the network's sales division and entertainment group to decide the start times beyond 2011.
It was the sales group that initially suggested moving the game to prime time, Brown said. "They have always been bullish on the Cotton Bowl," he said.
All four Cotton Bowl games in the new contract have been scheduled between BCS bowl nights. The Cotton Bowl will be played after the Rose, Orange, Fiesta and Sugar bowls but before the Bowl Championship Series title game. Beginning next year, the five BCS games will be televised by cable's ESPN. That will leave the Cotton Bowl, which aspires to join the BCS, the only January game on prime-time broadcast network television.
ESPN is taking over the BCS from Fox, whose BCS contract expires after the 2010 games. The ESPN deal runs through January 2014.
"We are proud that Fox deems our game important enough to move its prime-time entertainment shows out for us," said Rick Baker, Cotton Bowl president.
The 2010 game also marks the final year of the Cotton Bowl's contract with sponsor AT&T, as well as with the Big 12, which sends its runner-up to the game, and the Southeastern Conference, which supplies one of its top teams as the opponent.
New agreements with AT&T and the conferences are expected to be announced shortly. The move from the early-January glut of games to an exclusive prime-time spot should whet the appetite of the Big 12 and SEC.
"We couldn't be happier to extend our relationship with the Cotton Bowl," said Brown, who has coordinated the network's BCS coverage. "I've worked with all the bowls except the Rose, and it is the best-run. Now it is moving into the finest stadium in the world. That will only enhance the coverage."
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/090109dnspocottonbowl.32d2c70.html