Earlier this month, the so-called Champions Bowl sent out RFPs (Requests for Proposal) to a total of 10 cities across Southeast and Southwest to host the game, which will begin after the 2014 regular season.
Those ten cities were [/deep breath in]: Atlanta, Jacksonville, Nashville, New Orleans (pictured), Orlando, Tampa, Dallas, Phoenix, San Antonio and Houston.
Of those ten, only three -- Dallas, New Orleans and Atlanta -- have actually to bid, according to Brett McMurphy of ESPN.com. McMurphy goes on to write “Phoenix and Tampa will not submit a bid, while Houston*, Orlando, Nashville, San Antonio and Jacksonville have formally not made a decision yet.”
The deadline to complete the RFP is Aug. 22.
It’s not a bad sign that only three cities have bid on the bowl, which is reported to be valued at $80 million annually (Sports Business Daily). Dallas and New Orleans have been the favorites to land the game for a while, and some sites that do not land the game likely have a shot to be one of six rotating “access games” for college football’s new postseason.
(*As of Aug. 7, Houston was reportedly interested in making a run at the Champions Bowl.)