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The Arizona Sports and Entertainment Commission is expected to file tomorrow an application with the NCAA for a bowl game in Tucson starting next season, according to an ESPN report today.
The ASEC has on its Web site that its headquarters are in Tempe, which is also where ASU is located.
The proposed bowl by the non-profit agency will be held at Arizona Stadium between Christmas and New Year’s Day. ESPN reported the game will be called the “Arizona Bowl” and it will match teams from the Mountain West and Conference USA.
The report also mentions that Fox Sports or the CBS Sports Network will televise the game, a significant element for Tucson to land a bowl game along with the affiliation with two conferences.
The Mountain West has teams in bordering states with Arizona such as UNLV, Nevada, Utah State, Colorado State and New Mexico. Conference USA has teams further east but includes nearby UTEP. Other teams include Marshall, Louisiana Tech, Southern Miss, Rice and Texas-San Antonio.
Tucson has not hosted a bowl game since 1999, when it was called the Insight.com Bowl. The event was called the Copper Bowl from 1989 to 1997 before switching to the Insight.com Bowl.
The Fiesta Bowl officials moved the game to Phoenix in 2000. It has been in the Phoenix/Tempe area since and was renamed the Cactus Bowl last season.
The ASEC mentions on it Web site that the non-profit organization is one of the oldest sports commissions in the United States.
Among the events organized by the ASEC are the Arizona Sports Hall of Fame and Arizona Soccer Showcase. The organization also partners with the Grand Canyon State Games and National Native American Games.
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Site founder and award-winning sports journalist Javier Morales has published his first e-book, “The Highest Form of Living”, a fiction piece about a young man who overcomes a troubled upbringing without his lost father and wayward mother through basketball and hope. His hope is realized through the sport he loves. Basketball enables him to get past his fears. His experience on the court indirectly brings him closer to his parents in a unique, heartfelt way. Please order it at Amazon (for only $4.99) by clicking on the photo:
Mountain West Football: Proposed Arizona Bowl would be seventh tie-in http://t.co/zAJI1BjsMI
— UA Breaking News (@UAHugeFans) March 31, 2015
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TUCSON’S BOWL GAME HISTORY
Between 1989 and 1997 the game was called the Copper Bowl. In 1998 and 1999, it changed to the Insight.com Bowl.
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ALLSPORTSTUCSON.com publisher, writer and editor Javier Morales is a former Arizona Press Club award winner. He has also written articles for Bleacher Report and Lindy’s College Sports.