Friday, Aug. 19, 2005 | 9:58 a.m.
The Las Vegas Bowl took another step toward becoming a major player in college football's bowl game scenario on Thursday when it was announced that starting in 2006 it will get the first selection of Mountain West Conference teams.
Previously the MWC champ was bound to the Liberty Bowl unless it was chosen to play in one of the four major BCS bowl games --- Rose, Orange, Sugar or Fiesta. Now the Las Vegas Bowl will take over the top spot starting in 2006 through 2009.
"It's great news for our bowl," Tina Kunzer-Murphy, executive director of the Las Vegas Bowl, said.
Better yet, the Las Vegas Bowl isn't tied into taking the league champion. The new deal reads the bowl game gets "first choice" which gives Kunzer-Murphy and company the flexibility of perhaps taking a UNLV or a BYU --- two teams that would fill a lot of seats in Sam Boyd Stadium --- over an MWC champion that doesn't have a history of traveling well.
"We hope to take the champion each year," Kunzer-Murphy said. "But this gives us flexibility just in case."
The Mountain West team will be pitted against either the Pac-10 Conference's No. 4 or No. 5 team.
"I think this is the next step for our game," Kunzer-Murphy said. "It's taken us 13 years to get this point."
It also took a lot more money. The Las Vegas Bowl will increase its minimum payout from approximately $575,000 per team to a minimum of $1 million starting with next year's contest.
Kunzer-Murphy said the game will likely continue to be played a few days before Christmas. This year's contest, which will feature the No. 2 team from the MWC against the No. 5 Pac-10 squad, is set for Thursday, Dec. 22 at 5 p.m. at Sam Boyd Stadium.
The Mountain West Conference now has three bowl games lined up beginning in 2006. The new Poinsettia Bowl in San Diego will get the No. 2 team while the Fort Worth Bowl in Fort Worth, Texas will get the third choice of conference teams.
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