-
1 of 10
-
2 of 10
-
3 of 10
-
4 of 10
-
5 of 10
-
6 of 10
-
7 of 10
-
8 of 10
-
9 of 10
-
10 of 10
MPC Bowl boasts strong tradition
Archive
Comments
Story
In 1997 Boise State University moved its athletics association up from the Big Sky Conference in Division 1-AA to the Big West Conference in Division 1-A. Along with the move came more prestige, bigger paychecks and the chance to compete at a higher level. For the BSU football team the move meant leaving behind a playoff system. To make matters worse, the Big West Conference had no bowl game affiliations.
This was a problem that had many in the Boise area and all in the Big West concerned. So, according to Gary Beck, president of the MPC Bowl, a group of about 40 to 50 local businessmen got together and worked on obtaining financing. After the financing came through they utilized the local World Sports Humanitarian Hall of Fame as the initial sponsor name for the bowl. This provided exposure for the Hall and gave the bowl a name until they contracted a title sponsor.
The hard part was to get the national press and other conferences to take the game seriously, and December bowl games in Boise are not easy sells. But easy or not, the Big West needed a place to put their conference champions. Thus the bowl was certified and off-and-running. The first four years pitted a match-up between the Big West and various lower tiered mid-major conference teams. The next year Boise State and the MPC Bowl were invited to the WAC.
By joining the WAC it enabled the bowl to go at-large on one side of the game and invite higher profile teams, including teams from BCS conferences. Most of the WAC invites are chosen by geographical placement not by conference standings. With Boise State being the obvious geographic choice in the WAC, they have had many games with ranked teams either playing Boise State. On some occasions Boise State was the ranked team in the game.
Along with the rise in popularity of Boise State, the MPC Bowl has seen a rise in popularity and attendance. Attendance is higher when the Broncos play in the bowl game, but it is not dependent on the Broncos fans exclusively. That was most obvious in 2004 when Fresno was matched-up against Virginia. A surprising 28,516 fans showed up to mostly cheer on Boise State’s WAC rival, the Fresno Bulldogs. In fact attendance has been over 75 percent of capacity in every game except the first two. That is attendance numbers many of the 32 bowl games committees would love to have.
This year’s game brings in another one of Boise State’s main WAC rivals with the Nevada Wolf Pack taking on a huge BCS team in the Miami Hurricanes. At first thought, you might think that with 20,000 Boise football fans being in Arizona for the Fiesta Bowl the MPC Bowl attendance would surely struggle. But that does not seem to be the case with this year’s intriguing match-up. According to Beck sales are all ready over 20,000 and with well over a week before the game they may very well hit the goal of 25,000.
It has been 10 great years with 10 great match-ups. So where’s the hype? According to Beck, the bowl committee doesn’t want to place too much focus on its early success, but rather keep looking toward the future.
“There has been a lot of bowls that have come and gone,” Beck said. “When I say it is not a mild milestone, we expect the bowl to be around a long time, as long as the Treasure Valley supports it. And even when Boise State is not in the game we get good crowds. It is a great milestone, it’s been 10 years, and the bowl has come a long way. I don’t want to appear that I am cheapening that, but that has not been our focus. Our focus has been that we have a rare hurricane coming our way and we want the people to realize that.”
People are certainly paying notice to this year’s bowl match-up. After all, how often is there a hurricane threat in Idaho? Miami variety or otherwise, this is a rare treat for Bronco Stadium and it may never happen again. This is another bowl game that should get the community excited.
Troy Sawyer