BCS OKs title game after major bowls

By Bob Baum
The associated press
Posted April 27 2005

PHOENIX � The Fiesta Bowl organization was awarded the first national college football championship game under the new, expanded Bowl Championship Series format on Wednesday, and the BCS schools worked to find a new poll to help select the teams that will play for the title.

Beginning in the 2006 season, there will be a new game to determine the BCS national champion, a contest separate from the four existing BCS bowls -- the Fiesta, Orange, Sugar and Rose.


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In essence, it means that two more schools will qualify for a BCS contest.

As is the case under the current system, the teams that finish first and second in the BCS rankings will play for the championship.

The first title game under the new format will be played Jan. 8, 2007, at the Arizona Cardinals' new stadium set to open in the fall of 2006 in Glendale, Ariz. The Fiesta Bowl will be played in the same stadium a week earlier, on Jan. 1.

The stadium also will be the site of the 2008 Super Bowl.

The formal announcement of the Fiesta selection came only hours after Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano signed legislation that would require the stadium authority to grant use of the new facility for college football.

The bill also turns sales tax revenue from ticket sales and other transactions of the BCS games over to the Fiesta Bowl.

The provisions will mean about $1.75 million in revenue, Fiesta Bowl executive director John Junker said.

The announcement means the sites for the championship game will continue in their current rotation -- Fiesta, Sugar, Orange and Rose.

In all cases, the sites will host the national title game a week after their regular bowl games.

and furthermore.. all conferences are open for it .


http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=2048224