CONTACT: Elizabeth Herendeen, City of St. Petersburg, 727-434-9882 or
Jenny Zimmerman, ESPN, 407-566-2213

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

ST. PETERSBURG BOWL TO COME TO CITY IN DECEMBER, 2008

St. Petersburg, Fla. (April 30, 2008) – At today’s annual meeting of the NCAA Postseason Football Licensing Subcommittee in Weston, Florida, the NCAA announced that a new collegiate football bowl game has been awarded to St. Petersburg. The first “St. Petersburg Bowl” will be held at St. Petersburg’s Tropicana Field in December, 2008.

Created and launched by ESPN Regional Television, a subsidiary of ESPN, the St. Petersburg Bowl will be held in the days prior to the Christmas holiday and will field a match-up between a Big East and a Conference USA team. Tropicana Field will accommodate up to 40,000 fans for the game, which will also be televised on ESPN.

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.

“St. Petersburg is proud to host the St. Petersburg Bowl,” said Mayor Rick Baker. “With today’s announcement, our city joins an elite group of only 28 cities nationwide to host a NCAA collegiate bowl game. I’d like to thank ESPN Regional Television for its leadership in recruiting the bowl game, and we look forward to welcoming the Big East and Conference USA to St. Petersburg in December, 2008.”

Pete Derzis, senior vice president & general manager, ESPN Regional Television, said, “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.”

Mike Tranghese of the Big East Conference, said, “The St. Petersburg Bowl is another great bowl opportunity for the Big East. The game is played in a Big East market and already has generated great interest in the local community, and the partnership with ESPN will help the game grow quickly. Our coaches are always excited to play a postseason game in the state of Florida.”

Conference USA Commissioner Britton Banowsky said, “St. Petersburg is a wonderful community and a great destination for CUSA fans. The Big East Conference will surely provide a great opponent on the other side of the ball. We are also confident that our partner, ESPN Regional Television, will make the experience positive and memorable for the student athletes.”

The creation of a bowl game in St. Petersburg will generate a large economic impact and will attract new visitors to on the area. D. T. Minich, executive director of Visit St. Pete Clearwater, said, “From Grand Prix to baseball tournaments to triathlons, the St. Petersburg/Clearwater area has a long history of hosting prestigious sporting events, so we’re honored to be named the inaugural home of a bowl competition with such a high profile title sponsor.”

Tropicana 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.

 

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