By Patrick Kinahan
The Salt Lake Tribune
Las Vegas Bowl History In the game's 14-year history, the Las Vegas Bowl finally was able to invite Brigham Young. This week's game between BYU and California is the bowl's first sellout. Coincidence? Hardly. There's a reason Tina Kunzer-Murphy, the game's executive director, led the charge to land the Cougars. Even after BYU's defeat against Utah, a game she attended last month, Kunzer-Murphy still wanted the tradition rich Cougars. "BYU has done a tremendous amount for this bowl game this year," Kunzer-Murphy said. The attraction was mutual. After his team received the invitation almost one month ago, coach Bronco Mendenhall said he expected Sam Boyd Stadium to be a sea of blue the night of Dec. 22. More than half of the crowd likely will be adorned in BYU colors. "It's a feather in our fans' cap to be able to respond like that for a bowl game," said BYU athletic director Tom Holmoe. "It's a credit to the team and the players, that they have kind of won back some support that had eroded a little bit." The Mountain West Conference has sent a team to Las Vegas since beginning play in 1999. Utah's 10-6 win over Southern California in 2001 - since then the Trojans have gone 45-3 - drew 30,894, the game's largest crowd since its connection with the Mountain West. Only 18,031 saw Oregon State hammer New Mexico 55-18 in 2003. Last year's game, in which Wyoming beat UCLA 24-21, attracted 29,062. Beginning next season, the Mountain West champion is slated to play in Las Vegas. The conference's ultimate goal is to become part of the Bowl Championship Series, but Las Vegas is not a bad option. When the Utes beat USC, the game was played on Christmas Day. It has since moved to before the holiday, at a time when Las Vegas hotel rates are substantially cheaper than the following week. "If your champion ends up going to Las Vegas, I think it's a great destination for our fans," said Mountain West commissioner Craig Thompson. "It's obviously a place that we've thought through and where our fans want to attend a bowl game." Ideally, if the Mountain West can't get an automatic BCS bid, like six conferences have, it would like to build up Las Vegas as much as possible. The Western Athletic, a league in which several Mountain West members broke off from, helped build the Holiday Bowl into a highly desirable game.
BYU made San Diego its postseason home for a while, playing in the Holiday Bowl from 1978-84. The Cougars last played there in 1993. The game now matches teams from the Pac-10 and Big 12. Eventually, after stadium improvements, the Las Vegas Bowl people would love to follow the Holiday Bowl's path. The game needs more than big-name teams. "When you select a team like BYU that can support your bowl, it's all good," Kunzer-Murphy said. "We know who grows your bowl for us. But if you don't have the commitment of your local community, you can't build a bowl game these days." This year's game has a payout of $750,000 and will jump to $1 million next December. With the game picking up hotel costs, both teams should break even. For the next four years of the Mountain West contract, Kunzer-Murphy said, the game will be played before Christmas. The Pac-10 contract is for the Nos. 4 or 5 teams. If a BCS game isn't possible, BYU would like to create a Holiday Bowl in Las Vegas. "It's kind of like how BYU was with the Holiday bowls," said quarterback John Beck. "I can remember that's where you expected them to be, that's where they had gone so much." Mendenhall would like to use this week's time in Las Vegas as a trial run for return visits. In case they didn't know, he told the players that the conference champion is slated to play in Las Vegas the next four years. "We're the team playing this year with a chance to establish roots in there from this point on," Mendenhall said. Dating to the WAC, Las Vegas had been the site of the basketball conference tournament. Two years ago, after the Mountain West coaches complained about homecourt advantage UNLV enjoyed, the conference tournament was shifted to Denver. After lackluster attendance, the conference moved the tournament back to the Thomas & Mack Center beginning in March 2007.
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